"Parce que parce que parce que", a comic book album selected for the 2024 Pépites internationales

Born in 1976, Anne Herbauts graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. As an illustrator and author, she trained under Anne Quévy and Bruno Goosse. Her work explores all facets of the book as an object, experimenting with various techniques. Published by Casterman for almost thirty years, Anne Herbauts has written and illustrated nearly 50 books, including nearly twenty for children. Regarding her work, she notably states: "I write with text and image, or rather, I write between text and image." Her prolific and diverse body of work has been translated into many languages. 

Parce que Parce que Parce que is a poetic journey carried by the silhouette of a tabby cat, where the poetry of words meets that of images. Intended for children from the age of three, the title of the work echoes the question "why," which often comes from the mouths of children. And it expresses, as a contradiction, a kind of obviousness of meanings, images, and experiences. Mysterious, "Because Because Because" is not a linear journey, a story with a beginning and an end, but a book that is lived, felt with the fingers, and breathed. Without ever trying to explain or educate, Anne Herbauts seizes the coordinating conjunction "because" to better disarm its constraining force. 

Anne Herbauts loves to glue, cut, scribble, scratch, and wet the paper: each of her books is an experiment where form works in harmony with content. She is thus considered a major artist in the field of the book-object, as she sees paper less as a support than as a medium in its own right. "When I build a book," she explains, "it must be thought of as one would make an object; the story unfolds in the text, in the image, but above all in the assembly of the pages." Often considered to have a philosophical scope, her work remains accessible to very young readers. 

Anne Herbauts was noticed early on by critics and has received numerous awards throughout her career, including the Baobab Prize at the Montreuil Book Fair (2003), the Sorcières Prize (2012), and the Triennial Grand Prize for Youth Literature from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, for her entire body of work (2021). Her albums have been translated into Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, German, and English. They have also been adapted for the theater and have been the subject of several exhibitions.