Guy Delisle

Biography

Delisle studied animation at Sheridan College in Oakville, near Toronto, and then worked for the animation studio CinéGroupe in Montreal. He later worked for different studios in Canada, Germany, France, China and North Korea. His experiences as a supervisor of animation work by studios in Asia were recounted in two graphic novels, Shenzhen (2000) and Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (2003). The two books, Delisle's most famous work, were first published in French by the independent bande dessinée publisher L'Association. They have been translated into many languages, including English, German, Italian, Polish, Czech, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Croatian and Burmese. A film version of Pyongyang starring Steve Carell was cancelled in December 2014 after the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack.

Delisle is married to a Médecins Sans Frontières administrator. With her, he made a trip to Myanmar (Burma) in 2005, which is recounted in Chroniques Birmanes (2007), translated into English as Burma Chronicles.

In the summer of 2009, they completed a one-year stay in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem, again with Médecins Sans Frontières. This stay was recounted in Chroniques de Jérusalem (2011) which won the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Album in 2012. Amongst other things it covered the Gaza War. In France, Chroniques de Jerusalem (English title: Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City) was a best-seller.

In 2016, Delisle published S'enfuir. Récit d'un otage (Dargaud), translated into English as Hostage and published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2017. The graphic novel depicts the true story of Christophe André, a Médecins Sans Frontières administrator who was kidnapped in the Caucasus Region in 1997. Hostage was longlisted for Brooklyn Public Library's 2017 literary prize.

Delisle resides in Montpellier, France.