French Publisher Kana's Founder Yves Schlirf Dies
French publishing companies Dargaud and Kana announced on September 14 that Kana founder Yves Schlirf died on September 13. Schlirf was also director-general for Dargaud in Belgium, and editorial director at Dargaud Benelux publishing at the time of his death.
Schlirf was born in Brussels, Belgium. He opened Schlirfbook, one of the first comic book specialty bookstores in Brussels, in 1972. He later diversified and showed interest in publishing in the 1980s, and got his first position in the marketing department of Belgian comic books and magazine publisher Dupuis at the request of then director general Jean Van Hamme. Schlirf left the company when Van Hamme stepped down from his position.
Schlirf created the Belgian branch of Dargaud publishing in Brussels, where he oversaw bestsellers such as Pin-Up, Murena, Le Scorpion, The Lament of the Lost Moors, and XIII among others.
After multiple trips to Japan, Schlirf founded Kana publishing in 1996, known for publishing manga such as Naruto, YuYu Hakusho, Saint Seiya, Slam Dunk, Detective Conan, Hunter X Hunter, and Yu-Gi-Oh!, among others, in French. Kana would eventually become one of the largest publishers of manga in Europe. Kana also publishes Kagurabachi, Fire Force, Assassination Classroom, Blue Spring Ride, Death Note, and more manga in French.
Schlirf sold his bookstore in 2002 to focus on publishing. Before his death, Schlirf was preparing an anniversary album for the 80th anniversary of the Belgian comic series Blake and Mortimer, which was first published in 1946.
Dargaud and Kana noted that Schlirf leaves the image of "a great connoisseur of the 9th art (a French term for the art of comic books, referring to the 'Nine Arts') and its language, but also that of a man deeply convinced by the mechanisms of fiction and human adventure, truly passionate about comics."
Sources: Dargaud publishing's website, Kana publishing's X/Twitter account
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