Pénélope Bagieu (; born 22 January 1982,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) is a French illustrator and comic designer. She is best known for her

blog BD Webcomics in France are usually referred to as either blog BD (comic strip blogs) or BD numérique (digital comic strips). Early webcomics in the late 1990s and early 2000s primarily took on the form of personal blogs, where amateur artists told st ...

s (French

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

s in

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

format) '' My Quite Fascinating Life'' and ''

Les Culottées ''Les Culottées'' is a blog BD (French webcomic in blog format) written by Pénélope Bagieu in 2016. Published on the website of ''Le Monde'', Bagieu uses ''Les Culottées'' to tell short biographical stories about women. Each comic features a w ...

.'' ''Les Culottées'' was compiled and released in English as the

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

''Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World'', which received widespread recognition. She has also created blog BDs ''California Dreamin'' and '. On July 20, 2019, she received an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

for '' Best U.S. Edition of International Material'' at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

, for ''Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World''.

Biography

Penelope Bagieu studied animation at the

École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (; ÉnsAD) also known as Arts Decos' and École des Arts décoratifs, is a public grande école of art and design, constituent member of PSL Research University. The school is located in the R ...

in Paris where she graduated in 2006. She then studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. Bagieu is in a rock band where she plays drums, and is a fan of nature shows. Penelope Bagieu graduated with a ''baccalauréat'' in Economic and Social.

Career

Bagieu created a short animated film entitled ''No More Laughter''. She has created illustrations for advertising campaigns, including for Marie frozen food, on television and on the internet. In September 2008, she released the first volume of ''Josephine'', a comic which portrays a character commissioned by . In March 2008, she invented the character Charlotte to launch a new magazine, ''Oops'', which features the adventures of a sassy girl at the forefront of verbal and clothing trends, and reviews the daily salient topics which are as varied as they are unusual. She set up the website ''O Christmas tree'' for Christmas 2008 in partnership with the Red Cross and Orange, with the aim of giving gifts to poor children. She published the graphic novel ''Exquisite Corpse'' in 2010. In 2012, she published ''The White Page'' (''La Page blanche'') in collaboration with French cartoonist Boulet. In February 2013, at the 40th international

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lucca Comics & Games and the Comiket of Japan. It has occur ...

, she was named

Chevalier of Arts and Letters The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant co ...

by the Minister of Culture and Communication. On June 19, 2013, the movie ''

Joséphine Josephine may refer to: People *Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer Places *Josephine, Texas, United States *Josephine County, Oregon, a county located in the U. ...

'' was released. It was an adaptation of Bagieu's comic strip by

Agnès Obadia Agnes is a feminine given name derived from the Greek , meaning 'pure' or 'holy'. The name passed to Italian as , to French as , to Portuguese as , and to Spanish as . It is also written as "Agness". Inez is an English variant. The Greek name ...

, and featured leading French actress

Marilou Berry Marilou Berry (born 1 February 1983) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter. She is known for her roles in ''Look at Me'' (2004), ''Vilaine'' (2008) and ''The New Adventures of Cinderella'' (2017). Personal life Marilou Berry was ...

. In September 2013, she published the first volume of ''Stars of the Stars'' with

Joann Sfar Joann Sfar (; born 28 August 1971) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, novelist, and film director. Life and career Sfar was born in Nice, the son of Lilou, a pop singer, who died when he was three, and André Sfar, a lawyer well know ...

. Sfar made the scenario and the Bagieu the drawings. In November 2013, Penelope Bagieu published a humorous cartoon mini tape intended to alert the public about the dangers of profond trawling. Inviting thereafter these readers to sign a petition of

BLOOM Association Bloom or blooming may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Bloom, one or more flowers on a flowering plant * Algal bloom, a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system * Jellyfish bloom, a collective n ...

, the ticket has raised hundreds of thousands of signatures. In 2016, Bagieu created the blog BD ''

'' for ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', which was eventually compiled into book form and released in 2018. She created one comic a week for 30 weeks, originally in French. Each comic featured a woman with an unusual or inspiring story. The work was released in French in two volumes with the subtitle ''Des Femmes Qui ne Font Que ce Qu’elles Veulent'' (Women Who Do as They Please). In English it was released as one volume with the title ''Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World''. The English version has only 29 stories instead of the original 30, as "Phoolan Devi, the Indian Queen of Bandits" was removed because it included the rape of a 10-year-old girl by her husband. ''Brazen'' has been translated into 11 languages, and each version is a little different due to local restrictions. In January 2020, she published a graphic novel of

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

works The Witches, her childhood favourite book. An English translation is expected for September 2020.

Works

* *'' California Dreamin': Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas''. First Second. 2017. *'' Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World''. First Second. 2018. *''The Witches: The Graphic Novel.'' 2020.

Awards

* 2011 : ** SNCF Award of

for ''Exquisite Corpse'' ** dBD Award for ''Exquisite Corpse'' * 2013 :

chevalier des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

* 2018 :

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

of Best European Book for ''

California Dreamin’ California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

'' * 2019 :

(Best U.S. Edition of International Material) for

Brazen Brazen may refer to: * Made of brass * HMS ''Brazen'', various ships of the British Royal Navy * Brazen Animation, an American studio based in Texas * Brazen class destroyer, consisting of four Royal Navy destroyers * ''Brazen'' (TV series), a ...

References

External links

*J. Caleb Mozzocco,
"Interview: Pénélope Bagieu on ‘California Dreamin': Cass Elliot Before The Mamas & the Papas’,"
''School Library Journal Blog'', May 18, 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bagieu, Penelope 1982 births Living people 21st-century French artists 21st-century French women artists Artists from Paris French comics artists French webcomic creators French female comics artists French female comics writers French women bloggers French graphic novelists Eisner Award winners Harvey Award winners