Drawing our ailments
Comic book conversation with Catherine Ocelot and Boum
Centre culturel canadien
June 13th, 2023
20:00 - 22:00
Meet Catherine Ocelot and Boum, finalists for the 24th Bédélys Québec awards at the Montreal Comics Festival. This award recognizes the best comic book published in Quebec. The two comic artists will be presenting their most recent work at the Canadian Cultural Centre: two stories that deal with the ailments of life with humour and poetry.
In Symptômes (Pow Pow Editions), Catherine Ocelot asks herself about the marks left by words, about what makes us sick and what heals us, about the deep nature of each individual, about the invisible threads that connect us or suffocate us, and about how to listen to the little voice that we too often ignore. It’s a dreamlike story with infectious humorous jabs, combining a fine line with subtle colours and a moving poetic sensitivity.
Boum tells the story of Odette, who has everything to be happy but whose life is turned upside down by the appearance of a jellyfish in her eye. Both touching and captivating, La méduse (Éditions Pow Pow) is a poignant autobiographical story that speaks to the importance of taking the hand that is held out to us so that the darkness of illness and grief can finally dissipate.
Catherine Ocelot is originally from Quebec and lives in Montreal with her daughter and her little dog. She is the author of Talk-Show and Art Life for which she won the 2019 Bédélys Québec prize. Her books are full of existential questions that she stages with humour and melancholy.
Boum was born in Montreal in 1985. The author of La petite révolution (Front froid) and Nausées matinales et autres petits bonheurs (La Pastèque), is best known for her series Boumeries (Glénat Québec), which won the Bédélys 2021 prize. Boum has been suffering from various eye diseases for over fifteen years. In March 2021, she lost the use of her right eye.
This meeting will be hosted by Marie Jouvin, journalist for Lire Magazine and founder of the blog Trouble Bibliomane.
It will be followed by a book sale and signing session in collaboration with the Librairie du Québec à Paris.
