A Lancaster University Professor is to deliver a lecture on the history of the graphic novel at France’s most prestigious research establishment.

The College de France in Paris will welcome Benoît Peeters, of Lancaster University’s Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, to hear its first-ever lecture on the graphic novel.

Entitled “Génie de la bande dessinée. De Töpffer à Emil Ferris” (“The Genius of Comics from Töpffer à Emil Ferris), the lecture, on October 7^th, will be a cultural history of graphic fiction from its origins in the early 19^th century to the present day.

The Collège de France, founded in 1530, is considered to be France's most prestigious research establishment and all lectures given there are free and open to all.

Benoît, who came to Lancaster in 2017 as the UK’s first-ever Professor in Graphic Fiction and Comic Art, is not only a celebrated graphic novelist but also an intellectual biographer and cultural historian.

He is a world-renowned authority on Hergé and Tintin, having written Tintin and the World of Hergé and Hergé’s biography, Hergé, Son Of Tintin.

He is also author of biographies about 19^th century comics pioneer Rodolphe Töpffer, and the French philosopher Derrida, and co-creator, alongside François Schuiten, of Les Cités Obscures, one of Belgium’s most famous francophone comic strips created in the past 30 years.

Professor Sharon Ruston, Head of the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, said: “This is a momentous occasion and we are very proud that Benoît will be delivering this prestigious lecture.”