Ivory Coast

Marguerite Abouet was born in 1971 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in Western Africa. She grew up during a time of great prosperity in the Ivory Coast. At the age of twelve, she and her old brother went to stay with a great-uncle in Paris, where they further pursued their education. Years later, after becoming a novelist for young adults, Abouet was drawn to telling the story of the world she remembered from her youth. The result was the graphic novel Aya de Yopougon, published in North America as Aya, illustrated by Clemént Oubrerie, that recalls Abouet's Ivory Coast childhood in the 1970s, and tells the humorous, engaging stories of her friends and family as they navigate a happy and prosperous time in that country's history. Aya won the 2006 Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book and has sold over 200,000 copies in France. Tens of thousands of copies, have been printed worldwide including in the U.S. and Ivory Coast. Her 2013 animated film, Aya of Yop City, was nominated for a Best Animated Film French César Award in 2014.

Filmography

Aya of Yop City (2012)