Nancy Peña (born 13 August 1979, Toulouse) is a French bande dessinée (BD) comics author and children's literature illustrator.
Biography
Originally from Toulouse, she studied drawing there, notably with Catherine Escudié.[1] She attended the École normale supérieure de Cachan where she obtained an Agrégation in applied arts in 2003. She taught for a few years before devoting herself solely to drawing. Her influences come from different arts, including Will Eisner[2] in comics or Rembrandt or Calot[3] in engraving.
Based in Besançon since 2004, she is the author of several comic series, including Le Chat du kimono at the publisher, La Boîte à bulles, distinguished as a selection at the 2010 Angoulême International Comics Festival.[4]
With Blandine Le Callet [fr] as writer, Peña illustrated a graphic novel retelling of the mythological character of Medea.[5][6] The 4-volume series met with critical success[7][8][9][10] notably cited as one of the 100 BD of the century at the 2020 Angoulême International Comics Festival.[11] The series was collected in complete form in 2021.[12] An English version of Medea was published by Dark Horse Comics in 2024.[13]
Peña is also the author of a series "Madame", broadcast mornings on the website of the newspaper Le Monde[14] and published by its historic publisher La Boite à bulles, with a fourth volume released in the summer of 2022.[15]
Among the numerous children's publications illustrated by Peña, Les Guerriers de glace (Nathan, 2019) by Estelle Faye received the Prix Imaginales [fr] at the 2019 Epinal book festival.[16]
Awards and honours
2008 : Midi-Pyrénées high school comic strip prize: script prize for Le Chat du kimono
2019 : Prix Imaginales (Imaginales Children's Book Prize) at the 2019 Epinal Book Festival for Les Guerriers de Glace
Selected works
Bande-dessinée
Le Cabinet chinois, La boîte à bulles, coll. « Contre-jour », 2003[17]
La Guilde de la mer, La boîte à bulles, coll. « Clef des Champs »
Au point de devant, with Gally and Jean-Marie Jourdane (colorist), 2006
Au point d'entre-deux, with Maëla Cosson (colorist), 2007
Mamohtobo (scénario), with Gabriel Schemoul (drawing and colorist), Éditions Gallimard, coll. « Bayou », 2009