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Roald Dahl’s The Witches Being Adapted Into A Graphic Novel by Pénélope Bagieu

By | May 8th, 2019
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Cover by Quentin Blake

After striking a deal with the Roald Dahl Story Company, French publisher Gallimard are set to adapt The Witches into a graphic novel. Artist Pénélope Bagieu (“Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World”) will be tasked with the adaptation of the story, with the graphic novel set to be 300 pages long.

For those unfamiliar with the original story, it was published in 1983 and follows an unnamed seven-year old boy and his grandmother in a world where witches that hate children live in secret. The pair discover that the leader of the witches, the High Grand Witch, has arrived in England in order to execute her most evil plot and set out to stop her. Luke Kelly, the managing director of the Roald Dahl Story Company, said that everyone at the company is “thrilled to be working with Gallimard on Pénélope Bagieu’s wonderfully witty interpretation” of the classic children’s story, and praised Bagieu’s “fresh take on the iconic characters of Grandma and The Grand High Witch.” He also noted his excitement at working with Gallimard, their longest-standing publishing partner, for an “innovative piece of publishing.”

The graphic novel adaptation is set for release in early 2020, which the Roald Dahl Story Company is describing as the “year of the witches,” with Robert Zemeckis’s (Back to the Future) new film adaptation also set for release next year on October 16. Full details on the book’s release in the UK and US have yet to be revealed.


Luke Cornelius

Luke is an English and American Literature and Creative Writing graduate. He likes spending his time reading comics (obviously), going out on long walks and watching films/TV series.

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