Rebecca Manzoni revealed it this Thursday morning live on her show “Totémic” on France Inter: Valentine Cuny-Le Callet is the winner of the Fnac France Inter comic book prize for “Perpendiculaire au soleil”, published last August by Delcourt editions. Based on 20 favorite 2022 albums from Fnac booksellers, a general public jury selected five finalists, including “Journal anxious from Istanbul” by Ersin Karabulut (Dargaud), “The little brother” by JeanLouis Tripp (Casterman) , “Les Pizzlys” by Jérémie Moreau (Delcourt) and “Dry cleaning” by Joris Mertens (Rue de Sèvres). It is then a commission made up of journalists and Fnac booksellers who decided. Valentine Cuny-Le Callet, 25, succeeds Xavier Coste for “1984” (Sarbacane).
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“Perpendicular to the sun” retraces the exchanges between Valentine Cuny-Le Callet and an American prisoner. When the young woman, then aged 19, was put in contact with him through ACAT (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture and the Death Penalty), she was amazed. “I had imagined that my application for registration […] would get lost between two forms”, she admits. However, a very strong correspondence will be tied between her and Renaldo McGirth, sentenced to death for murder at the age of 20 in 2008 and imprisoned in Florida. Far from being just a dive into the prison world in the United States, this cobblestone of more than 400 pages is above all an artistic dialogue. Like his interlocutor student at the Arts deco, McGirth draws: pretty fantasized landscapes (the only color images in the book) or his reality, like his moving sketch of his 5 m2 cell.
Valentine Cuny-Le Callet endeavors to transcribe their exchange without judgment and in a very inventive way, by alternating pencil and engraving on wood. A beautiful step of humanity despite the heavy penitentiary restrictions on the letters. Absurd and poetic scene where the young woman cuts out with a cutter all the elements of her drawings that can be interpreted as political and therefore “a security threat”. His hands still have Tupac’s tattoo, the raised fists of Tommy Smith and John Carlos, the fangs and claws of the Black Panthers logo…
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As the winner, the author will benefit from a place of honor in all Fnac stores and on Fnac.com during the month of January, as well as a promotional campaign.
