British illustrator is a star in the Franco-Belgian world of bandes dessinées
We speak to Posy Simmonds MBE, winner of one of the most prestigious awards for graphic novelists
Posy's work will be exhibited at the 52nd edition of Angoulême International Comics Festival, from January 30 to February 2Photo: Hervé-Veronese-Centre-Pompidou
Cartoonist, illustrator and writer Posy Simmonds MBE was crowned winner of Angoulême International Comics Festival (FIBD) 2024’s Grand Prix, making her the first British recipient and the fourth woman to be awarded the French lifetime achievement award.
Posy spoke to The Connexion about her exhibition called Posy Simmonds. Herself. which will celebrate her work once more during the 52nd edition of the FIBD.
“The title is taken from a magazine I did called Herself when I was between the ages of about 13 and 14,” she said. "It was sort of a spoof of a women's magazine at the time. I suppose that would have been in the early 1960s and I think it may be in the exhibition.”
Visitors will have the opportunity to see Posy classics up close, such as Gemma Bovery and Tamara Drewe, as well as Posy herself, who will be in attendance.
Posy enjoys a long relationship with France after studying at the Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne (CCFS), a private French language institution in Paris, as a teenager.
“I had done A-level French so I could write it, but I couldn't speak it for toffee,” she said.
She then returned to London to attend the Central School of Art and Design, and is often referred to as ‘the queen of British graphic novels’ by the French.
“It's very strange. I don't feel very regal at all, especially as I'm in my socks and my old jeans,” she joked.
“But it's wonderful. Angoulême is the great Mecca for comics and the French love of bandes dessinées is terrific. So, of course, I'm really pleased and honoured that they like my work.”
Posy was interested in cartoons from a young age, and with lots of siblings, she had access to plenty of comics.
“I had always drawn and originally I actually wanted to do painting.
“However, I always liked writing as well, so after I'd done the foundation year, I chose to be in the graphic design department. At that time it was mainly a typographic course, but I found it very useful ever since for doing my own lettering, because in those days, pre-computer, you had to learn how to hand-letter. That was useful.
“There wasn't much illustration, but I managed to turn the projects that we were given into kind of illustration projects as well. I left in 1968, so of course it was a great time then to be an art student.”
She cites William Hogarth, George Cruikshank and Thomas Rowlandson, as well as US cartoonists such as Saul Steinberg, plus newspaper cartoonists Giles Wood and Ronald Searle, as inspiration.
Her career started at The Guardian during the 1970s, producing a weekly comic strip. It became a long-standing collaboration, with Posy seamlessly blending her artistic and literary talents to produce award-winning comics and graphic novels.
Her modern take on Frenchman Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, which sees an English expatriate in Normandy facing modern problems, was produced in The Guardian in the 1990s, and Tamara Drewe started in September 2005 as a weekly comic strip. Both were turned into graphic novels and subsequently films, featuring Gemma Arterton.
Posy’s satirical and often humorous views on British society are what set her apart in a ‘boys’ club’ of cartoonists and illustrators, and she is credited with redefining the graphic novel industry.
Posy Simmonds. Herself is at the 52nd Angoulême International Comics Festival (FIBD) from January 30 to February 2, 2025 at the Musée d’Angoulême.
