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Sino-French Graphic Novels in the Spotlight at University of Cambridge

By John Freeman on January 30, 2026 • ( 0 )

The University of Cambridge is hosting an in-person and online event with Jean-Baptiste Bernard on Tuesday 24th February, presenting his work “Sino-French Graphic Novels: negotiating heritages, inventing identities.”

In a country massively consuming bande dessinée, graphic novel and manga like France, graphic narratives are a major medium to convey socially impactful messages. Among many creations contributing to shape a diverse, inclusive and critical representation of contemporary France, a Sino-French autobiographical and autofictional corpus has emerged since the mid-2010s.

This talk would first present some key Sino-French creations, by Kei Lam, Lucie Quéméner, Brigitte Tchao and Christel Han, Minna Yu or Luxi. It would then propose a thematical approach of the corpus in three main aspects: transcultural itineraries in relation to cultural heritage and intergenerational communication, challenges and discriminations faced in public spaces and institutions, and finally the invention of freedom and happiness by shaping original, plural identities through a multimodal medium where cultural, gender based, familial and social expectations can be re-negotiated, transgressed, transcended – or ignored.

Doing so, this talk would aim to investigate both the importance of graphic narratives for the self-affirmation of Franco-Chinese creators, their catalysing role in expressing the challenges encountered by people of more broadly Asian backgrounds in France and the rise of a nuanced, unstable “Asian-French” feeling of belonging, but also the multimodal specificities of graphic novel that would make it a privileged medium to convey and shape issues of interculturality, transculturality and emancipation.

Jean-Baptiste Bernard is Research Innovation Associate at Queen’s University Belfast, as part of the AHRC project “Sino-French Graphic Novels: Identity, Interculturality and Multimodality”, mentored by Dr Rosalind Silvester. After a PhD at Grenoble University about poet, travel writer and surgeon Lorand Gaspar (1925-2019), he taught at Jerusalem, Shanghai, Zagreb and Bratislava.

He has been studying Sino-French bandes dessinées and graphic novels since his stay at Fudan University in Shanghai (2017-2019), with a focus on inter- and transcultural autobiographical narratives, and on the representations of China past and present

• Jean-Baptiste Bernard, presenting his work “Sino-French Graphic Novels: negotiating heritages, inventing identities.” 3.15 – 4.45pm Tuesday, 24th February 2026, the Seminar Room 331, Raised Faculty Building, University of Cambridge. If you would like to join online, please request the Zoom link from jcs217@cam.ac.uk

• Sino-French Graphic Novels: Identity, Interculturality and Multimodality

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.