US cartoonist Chris Ware on drawing inspiration from everyday acts of humanity

ENCORE! © FRANCE 24

His intricate, careful depictions of modern life have won him accolades in the US and the UK, as well as the Angoulême International Comics Festival Grand Prize in 2021. Chris Ware sits down with FRANCE 24 as his cartoons and graphic novels are displayed at the Pompidou Centre's public library in Paris. He tells us how a childhood absorbed in Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip prompted a fascination for the "mechanical nature" of a story told in words and pictures. We also discuss how the intimate bond between writer and reader makes books powerful, subversive objects that still manage to bother those who seek to censor alternative viewpoints.