Marzena Sowa (born 1979 in

Stalowa Wola Stalowa Wola () is the largest city and capital of Stalowa Wola County with a population of 58,545 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2021. It is located in southeastern Poland in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The city lies in historic Lesser Polan ...

) is a Polish

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. Since 2001, she has been living in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Sowa studied at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

and then at the

Michel de Montaigne University Bordeaux 3 Bordeaux Montaigne University ( French: ''Université Bordeaux Montaigne''; formerly ''Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3'') is a public university in Pessac, France, approximately 8 kilometres (5 miles) southwest of the city centre of B ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. Sowa is the author of the autobiographical comic ''Marzi'', a series of comics about her childhood in 1980s-era Poland. She writes about life under

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, food shortages, and her childish escapades. The illustrator is Sylvain Savoia, Sowa's life partner. So far, six volumes of ''Marzi'' have been published by comic book publisher

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. It is ...

. In Poland, the first three volumes were collected and published by

Egmont Egmont may refer to: * Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark * Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond ** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...

. ''Marzi'' is also translated into Spanish, in 2011 into English and in 2012 into Czech.

Books

* '' Marzi'': **''Petite Carpe'', vol. 1, Dupuis, 2005 ** ''Sur la terre comme au ciel'', vol. 2, Dupuis, 2006 ** ''Rezystor'', vol. 3, Dupuis, 2007 ** ''Le Bruit des villes'', vol. 4, Dupuis, 2008 (tirage de tête, Éditions de la Gouttière, 2008) ** ''Pas de liberté sans solidarité'', vol. 5, Dupuis, 2009 ** ''Tout va mieux...'', vol. 6, Dupuis, 2011 ** ''Nouvelle vague'', vol.7, Dupuis, 2017 ** ''La Pologne vue par les yeux d'une enfant'' (complete volume 1), Dupuis, 2008 ** ''Une enfant en Pologne'' (complete volume 2), Dupuis, 2009 **''Nouveau souffle'' (complete volume 3), Dupuis, 2017

External links

Interview with Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savoia

Profile
at culture.pl 1979 births Living people Polish comics artists Polish female comics artists Jagiellonian University alumni People from Stalowa Wola County {{comics-creator-stub