WINNER
Polly
Text by Fabrice Melquiot
Art by Isabelle Pralong
Éditions La Joie de lire, Switzerland 2021
What the jury said:
“This collaboration between playwright Fabrice Melquiot and comic artist Isabelle Pralong addresses the confused sexual identity of a child named Polly, who is born neither male nor female and is eventually assigned by the medical profession as a boy. This challenging, underexplored subject is expressed in unconventional ways through watercolour drawings focusing on the characters, either close-up or distant, and a blend of naturalistic dialogue and poetic writings. Polly rejects the male-female binary and manages to claims control of their gender. The imagery and texts reflect Polly’s decision to float freely.”