Mathieu Burniat is coming to the Tokyo BD Festival 2026!

2026-08-02 2026-08-02

こぎつね

Mathieu Burniat is a Belgian comic book author known for tackling a wide range of subjects, including science, physics, philosophy, and food culture, all with a light touch and engaging storytelling. His acclaimed work La Passion de Dodin-Bouffant drew attention for its subtle and evocative portrayal of the pleasures of fine cuisine.

In his latest book, Foudroyants, he takes readers on an adventurous journey through the history of electricity and energy. His remarkable ability to transform complex scientific and technical topics into captivating narratives has earned him growing recognition from both readers and critics alike.

作家プロフィール

Mathieu Burniat
(マチュー・ブルニア)

Mathieu Burniat was born in Brussels in 1984, with The Black Island tucked under his arm. Fascinated from an early age by the connection between graphic arts and storytelling, he spent six years at the collective animation workshop Zorobabel. In 2007, he graduated in Industrial Design from La Cambre. He then worked for two years as a designer, a profession that took him on several trips to China. During those journeys, he created a comics blog recounting his experiences in Ningbo, Shanghai, and Taipei. Although the blog was short-lived, it caught the attention of filmmakers and screenwriters Matthieu Donck and Benjamin d’Aoust. Inspired by his travels in China and his love of gastronomy, they offered him a tailor-made script. Burniat went on to draw Shrimp, his first graphic novel, published by Dargaud. It was then that he realized he preferred telling stories to designing unnecessary objects, and he threw himself wholeheartedly into the world of comics.

He later wrote and illustrated The Passion of Dodin-Bouffant, a story infused with romance and gourmet delights, playfully celebrating French gastronomy. Having explored his first great passion, food, he soon feared becoming too comfortable. He therefore decided to learn the fundamentals of quantum physics, attending the highly unconventional lectures of renowned physicist Thibault Damour. The result was The Mystery of the Quantum World, a graphic novel that blends adventure storytelling with educational content, culminating in a fascinating reflection on the nature of reality.

In 2019, together with Loup Michiels, he published TRAP, a silent graphic novel that is both humorous and biting. The book received the Victor Rossel Award for Best Album. At the end of the Covid period, he invited readers to “lock themselves underground” with Sous Terre (Underground), an album that highlights the essential role of soil in sustaining life. After tackling such a serious subject, he felt the need for something more entertaining and asked Geoffroy Monde to write an epic fantasy comic for him. Unable to resist addressing another important issue, Monde chose to focus on patriarchal violence. The result was Furieuse, a 240-page graphic novel that won the award for Best Album at the Pépites in 2022, followed a few months later by the Lyon BD Prize.

Through his collaborations with Geoffroy Monde, Lewis Trondheim, and Mélanie Allag, Mathieu Burniat discovered how much he enjoys working as part of a creative team. His experience in comics also made him realize that he would never be able to draw as fast as ideas came to him. One conclusion became obvious: he wanted to devote himself more to writing stories for other artists. It was therefore only natural that he joined forces with Kerascoët to create Foudroyants, an electrifying six-volume series.