L'Harmattan, le vent des fous

Christian Cailleaux was born in La Garenne-Colombes in the Parisian suburbs. He studied Literature and Philosophy and then attended the National School of Art in Cergy. He travelled through Africa after his studies, and held drawing workshops in several Cultural Centers of the Alliance Française in over fifteen African countries. Africa was also the setting for his first published comics work, the two books about 'Arthur Blanc-Nègre', that were written by Bernard Sallé (Dargaud, 1993-1994). He established himself as an allround author with his next two books, 'Haëllifa' (1997) and 'Harmattan - Le Vent des Fous' (1998), both at Dargaud. He has since worked several French publishing houses, such as Trieze Étrange ('Le café du voyageur' and 'Le troisième thé' in 2000 and 2002) and Casterman (the trilogy 'Les Imposteurs' in 2003-2005). He illustrated a comics adaptation of 'Frankenstein' by Michel Piquemal for Albin Michel Jeunesse in 2006. Another trip, this time to India, inspired him for the one-shot 'Tchaï Masala' (Treize Étrange, 2007). Travelling was also a theme of his loose adaptation of Bernard Giraudeau's novel 'Le Marin à l'Ancre', called 'R97 - Les hommes à terre' (Casterman, 2008) and of 'Les longues traversées', another work based on Giraudeau's writings (Dupuis, 2011). Text (c) Lambiek