Joël Alessandra was born in Marseille in 1967. He studied interior design at the prestigious Boulle art school. It was however during a stay in Italy that he published his first stories in the nationally known magazine “Il Grifo”.
A fervent traveller he published “Fikrie” (La Boîte à Bulles), inspired by his experience as artistic director at the French Cultural Centre in Djibouti (1989-1991), “Dikhil” then “Fierté de Fer” a travel journal on the Djibouti-Ethiopian train (Paquet).
Since living in St. Quentin in the south of France, he has published “Bad Atmosphère” (Paquet) and “Instinct Sauvage” under the Kstr label (Casterman).
His last two travel sketchbooks “Retour du Tchad” and “Ennedi” (La Boîte à Bulles), both nominated for the ‘Grand Prix Michelin’ at the international travel sketchbook festival in Clermont-Ferrand, follow in André Gide’s footsteps along the Chari and Logone rivers and into the Sahara in the north-east of the country.
He has just finished a trilogy in which he adapts the Amin Maalouf novel “Le Périple ce Baldassare”, taking us this time on a journey through the Middle and Far East.
Joël Alessandra still goes frequently abroad especially to Africa for workshops in the French Cultural Centres and the French Alliances.
He participates regularly in group albums with the publisher ‘Petit à Petit’ (La Martinière), illustrates for advertising and communication and has worked on several web-documentaries marrying comic-strip and documentaries (eg: Little Burma “Le Monde.fr”).
