He is a graphic novelist and illustrator from Toulouse, in the South of France. He studied at the prestigious Beaux-Arts d’Angoulême and Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg. In 2013, he moved to Bangalore where he taught at a design school until 2018. From his experience were born two albums Bangalore (Warum, 2017) and L’Alcazar (Sarbacane) that capture the bustling city with its construction sites and workers on every corner. L’Alcazar has been published in English by Bharat Murthy. Simon Lamouret regularly works for the comic magazine La Revue dessinée and teaches drawing workshops when he is not traveling for work.
Book in focus
Alcazar
The Alcazar by Simon Lamouret is a graphic novel about the hidden lives of construction workers in India. We follow one such group of construction workers in Bangalore, assigned to build a residential apartment complex. Their trials, joys and sorrows form the bulk of the narrative. The titular building itself becomes another character in the story as we witness its erection from ground up. The cool observational tone assumed by Simon allows the reader to empathise with all the characters and renders them universal. Printed in beautiful spot colour, evoking the atmosphere of Bangalore, it is brilliantly translated into English by Prutha Narke, who manages to capture the nuances of Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi which are spoken by the characters.
