“Caribbean Layouts”: Jessica Oublié, Ralph Penel Pierre & Chevelin Pierre

Chevelin Pierre is a Haitian graphic and comic artist. He works in advertising illustration, book publishing, preproduction illustration (storyboard), and packaging illustration. As a comic book artist, he is best known for Bizango, a graphic novel about the secrets societies in Haiti.

Jessica Oublié est l’auteure de Péyi an nou (Steinkis, 2017), roman graphique documentaire sur la migration antillaise institutionnalisée et Tropiques toxiques (Steinkis, 2020), enquête sur la pollution au chlordécone en Martinique et Guadeloupe. En 2021, elle a coordonné la publication de Sargasse, histoire(s) d’une marée brune ouvrage collectif sur l’échouage des sargasses dans les territoires et pays de la Caraïbes et d’Amérique latine. Et depuis 2020, elle travaille à l’écriture de Au nom des miennes, bande dessinée témoignages sur les femmes françaises noires et métisses. Jessica Oublié is a French Guadeloupean graphic novelist. She is the author of Péyi an nou (Steinkis), about institutionalized West Indian migration, and Tropiques toxiques (Steinkis), an investigation into chlordecone pollution in Martinique and Guadeloupe. In 2021, she coordinated the publication of Sargasse, histoire(s) d’une marée brune, a collective work on the stranding of sargassum in the territories and countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. She’s currently working on In the name of mine, a comic book testimonial on Black and mixed-race French women.

M.J. Fievre is a long-time educator and writer. She is also Miami Book Fair’s ReadCaribbean program coordinator; directing and producing the children’s cultural show Taptap Krik? Krak! falls under her purview. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, she has taught creative writing workshops to children at the O, Miami Poetry Festival and the Miami Art Museum, as well as in various schools in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, in her native Haiti, and in South Florida. In The Ocean Lives There (Dragonfruit), illustrated by Polina Hrytskova, Fievre invites young readers to join Imane on her adventure through a magic door and experience the beautiful Caribbean island of Haiti. Imane is a curious young girl with a big question. What is behind the magic door inside her house? Her sister Caroline says it’s a door that goes everywhere and nowhere. Sometimes it’s red, sometimes it’s blue, and it smells like coffee beans and the ocean. Imane can only imagine what’s on the other side: a beautiful place full of magic, music, and fun. But Momma keeps the door locked tight, and no one is allowed to open it.

Ralph Penel Pierre réalise ses premiers croquis dès son plus jeune en reproduisant les personnages de Marvel Comics. Il participé, tout juste adolescent, à plusieurs concours de dessins où il se distingue. Engagé aux éditions Henri-Deschamps comme infographiste/illustrateur en 1998, il contribue notamment à Couleurs, un livre de contes pour enfants à succès coédité par Hachette-Deschamps et Edicef. En 2006, il participe comme exposant au Comic-Convention International à San-Diego, États-Unis. En 2013, il devient professeur à l’École Nationale des Arts ENARTS. En 2019, il esté en résidence d’auteur en Martinique, invité par la mairie de la Trinité. Il collabore avec la majorité des agences de communications en Haïti et offre son expertise en communication visuelle à plusieurs institutions. Son œuvre (Les Frères Lobo) est présenté dans un dossier pédagogique à l’Université de Rio, Brésil, adresser aux professeurs universitaires du réseau de L’Agence universitaire de la Francophonie AUF, sous le thème : La bande dessinée comme outil pédagogique. Il a œuvré comme chargé de mission en communications visuelle à la Primature haïtienne et au Palais National, ainsi que comme directeur des arts visuels à la Chambre de Commerce haïtiano-américaine (HAAMCC) en Floride, États-Unis. Ralph Penel Pierre is a Haitian graphics designer, illustrator, and educator. He made his first sketches when he was very young, reproducing Marvel Comics characters. As a teenager he participated in several drawing competitions, where he distinguished himself. Hired by Éditions Henri-Deschamps as a graphic designer/illustrator in 1998, he notably contributed to Couleurs, a successful children’s storybook co-published by Hachette-Deschamps and Edicef. In 2006, he participated as an exhibitor at San Diego’s Comic-Con International; in 2013 he became a professor at Haiti’s Ecole Nationale des Arts; and in 2019 he was selected as an author-in-residence in Martinique, invited by the town hall of La Trinité. He collaborates with the majority of communications agencies in Haiti and offers his expertise in visual communication to several institutions. His Les Frères Lobo work is presented in an educational file at the University of Rio, Brazil, addressed to university professors of the network of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie AUF under the theme: The comic strip as a teaching tool. Pierre has also worked as a visual communications officer at the Haitian Prime Minister’s Office and the National Palace, and as director of visual arts at the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce (HAAMCC) in Florida.