Sunny Spells

In Sunny Spells, Sempé explores a wide range of topics, from troubled relationships and existential crises to office politics and doping scandals in the literary world. His cast of characters includes pious churchgoers, amateur painters and lovelorn palaeontologists, as well as psychiatrists, actors and football supporters.

Most famous in the English-speaking world for his instantly recognizable New Yorker covers, Jean-Jacques Sempé has delighted readers in France and beyond with his witty drawings and keen eye for the finer points of the human condition for over forty years. Now, these sharply observed and beautifully drawn cartoons are available in English for the first time. Many of Sempé's intricate and evocative illustrations are accompanied by laconic, perfectly judged captions, which were translated by Anthea Bell, who also translated the Asterix comics into English.

Jean-Jacques Sempé (b.1932) is one of the world's most successful illustrators and cartoonists. He is the illustrator of the classic children's-book character, Nicholas, and author of a collection of some thirty albums of his cartoons and graphic novels, all published or to be published by Phaidon. His world-renowned illustrations and cartoons are featured on the cover of the New Yorker and in Paris Match.