Jean-Philippe Stassen (born 14 March 1966 in Liège, Belgium) is a Belgian comics creator best known for Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda.

Biography

Born in Liège to a Flemish father and a Jewish mother, Jean-Philippe Stassen started travelling at a young age. He travelled through Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. His experiences have been an influence throughout his work.

He was introduced to the magazine L'Écho des Savanes when he was 17 years old. Stassen soon made his debut with the albums Bahamas and Bullwhite at Éditions Albin Michel in 1988 and 1989, both written by Denis Lapière.

Stassen and Lapière continued their collaboration in the collection Aire Libre of Dupuis, where they created the diptych Le Bar du Vieux Français in 1992. The story won them several prizes.

Stassen then wrote Louis le Portugais on his own, another touching human tragedy, this time situated in the suburbs of Liège . He then changed the setting of this stories to Africa again, and created Thérèse. This was followed by Déogratias, about the genocide in Rwanda, and Les Enfants.

Jean-Philippe Stassen currently lives and works in Rwanda.