Kate Beatongraphic novel Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands The book becomes the winner of the 2024 Jan Michalski World Literature Prize and is the first graphic novel to win this honor, adding another award to the bookshelf.
The Jan Michalsky Prize was launched in 2010 and is awarded annually to works of fiction and non-fiction from around the world. Works of prose, poetry, poetry or illustration will be submitted for consideration by members of the jury without involvement of the author or publisher. After three rounds of voting, the winner will be announced in November and will receive a cash prize of CHF 50,000 (approximately US$57,000) and the choice of a piece of art to keep.
The 2024 winning works include works published from 2021 to 2024, and the shortlisted works were all published in 2022. When I sing, the mountains dancego through Erin Sola (English edition by Gray Wolf Press, 2022) and French novel Attack the Earth and Sungo through Mathieu Bellezi (Tripod, 2022).
jury description Duck as:
“…a poignant and bold graphic memoir that shines a light on the unknown working conditions in the oil industry through the eyes of a young woman and recent graduate trapped in a toxic world driven by financial hardship side. Featuring clean lines and powerful narrative dialogue, this visual autobiography is able to embrace the most sensitive and painful issues of our time—hypercapitalism, the environment, poverty, sexism, and sexual harassment—without Such a traumatic experience stifles her appreciation for others in similar situations. This is a deeply moving masterpiece because of the courage it embodies.
New rewards page:
“Beaton overwhelms us with her clarity and her ability to see the dysfunctional social dynamics that mobilize fear and poverty as the engines of the exploitation embraced by the exploited that are at the center of this world A hallucination. At the same time, she uses the ongoing ecological disaster as the backdrop for her graphic memoir, “Duck: Two Years in the Oil Sands” that suffocates the oil industry. The Omata caused a major blow, echoing the most acute contradictions and crises of our time.
Jurors include British author/biographer Jonathan Coe;Bulgarian writer Kapka KasabovaItalian writer/journalist Andrea Marcolongo;French writer, artist, director Valerie Mrecan;Angolan-Portuguese writer and professor Gonzalo Tavares;Icelandic writer and lyricist Sigurdhon Bilgier Sigurdsson. The jury is chaired by the publisher Vera Michalski Hofmann. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands Jonathan Coe made a motion for the jury to consider.
Beaton’s graphic novel, published by Drawn & Quarterly, has received huge critical acclaim since its initial launch in 2022, and a 2023 French edition by Casterman propelled it into critical selection lists in North America and Europe. Its English version won two Eisner Awards, two Ringo Awards, an Ignatz Award and a Harvey Award in the United States, as well as a Doug Wright Award in Canada. It is also the first graphic novel to win a Canadian reading competition. A paperback release is expected in 2025.
Drawing Quarterly Publisher Peggy Burns He welcomed the victory and said:
“It’s so fitting to see Kate Beaton’s work Duck She was recognized by this visionary award, open to all genres of literature from around the world, because her comics in this memoir demonstrate what the comics medium is capable of. Duck couldn’t possibly be anything other than a caricature. While the details of her story are Canadian, the book touches on issues that people around the world are grappling with, such as the toll of economic immigration and the devastation caused by the mining industry.
Graphic novels have appeared in the Jan Michalski Prize in the past, but never made it to the first round. These are included Matthew Sabinof Gérard: five years with Depardieu (European Comics, 2020/Dargaud, 2017); Lisa Mandels An exemplary year (Example version, 2020); Catherine Morrisof brightness (European Comics, 2020/Dargaud 2016); and Criswellof Construct a story (Pantheon 2012/Delcourt, 2014).
The Jan Michalsky Award was established in October 2009. They must also be fluent in at least two languages. Each member may nominate two works for consideration for that year’s awards.
The Jan Michalski Foundation in Montrice, Switzerland, is a center dedicated to writing and literature, offering exhibitions and residencies at the foot of the Jura Mountains. It was founded in 2004 by publisher Vera Michalski-Hoffmann and named in honor of her husband (and co-publisher) Jan Michalski, who died in 2002.
