Background
She was born in Abidjan, Côte d"Ivoire in 1971.
She was born in Abidjan, Côte d"Ivoire in 1971.
She is best known for her graphic novel series She worked as a legal assistant in Paris while she wrote her first graphic novel, Before writing, Abouet tried to write novels for young people, but she gave up in frustration with what she perceived to be the constraints put on the genre by the publishers. She has also quit her job as a legal assistant to concentrate on writing full-time, including her two follow up graphic novels to (of Yop City and: The Secrets Come Out). Is Abouet"s first published work.
She was influenced to do a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, the author of Persepolis.
lieutenant also emerged from her desire to show an Africa with a focus on issues other than war and famine, which is typically what the media focus on in portraying Africa. Her characters go to school, trudge off to work, plan for the future and allow themselves to be ensnared in domestic entanglements on the Ivory Coast the same way they do everywhere else.
The story has been adapted into an animated film co-directed by Abouet. Abouet denies that is autobiographical, except in the sense that it is the Ivory Coast that she is familiar with.
The characters are based on people she knew growing up, but the situations are purely fictional. has been considered a success especially for a first-time author
The Canadian publisher Drawn and Quarterly distributed the English-language version in the United States. They have printed over 10,000 copies in the United States., which is a significant number for a first time graphic novel in the United States. Abouet persuaded her French publisher to sell cheaper, soft-cover copies of the graphic novel in her native Ivory Coast.