With Anne Roumanoff, the designer, with roots both Breton and Syrian, confides about the difficulty of finding his identity, tossed between two countries.

ANNE ROUMANOFF, THAT'S GOOD

The faithful readers of the Arabic of the future already know the questions of identity that could torment Riad Sattouf in his youth. Son of a Syrian father and a Breton mother, the designer spent his adolescence between Libya, Syria and France. With Anne Roumanoff Monday, he returns on the difficulty he had to find his place in the world around him.

"It's hard to mix Breton root and Syrian root"

Considered a Frenchman in Syria, and not really like a Frenchman in France, Riad Sattouf had trouble dealing with both his origins. "It's difficult to mix Breton root and Syrian root," he concedes. "I was stuck between a Syrian father more and more religious, who, every time I saw a girl, told me that it was the Devil (...) and a Breton grandfather ultra obsessed with sex."

"A man does not have a root, but he has feet"

So the artist chose another path. "One of my favorite phrases is 'a man does not have a root, but he has feet.' I joined another country, another identity, which is that of the people who make books," says Riad Sattouf . "That's when I decided to make comics," he adds. The artist is then in college. A choice that will radically change his life. Thirty years later, he is one of the most widely read comic strip writers in France.