Les Cahiers d’Esther

Riad Sattouf’s Les Cahiers d’Esther is a long-running French series from Allary Éditions that follows the real-life diary of a young girl, Esther, from age 10 into adulthood. Launched in 2016, each of its seven annual volumes captures a year in Esther’s life, offering a warm, often wryly humorous portrait of growing up in contemporary France. Sattouf, the series’ sole artist and writer, shapes these candid, slice-of-life vignettes into a unique social document that has resonated widely for its authentic, unvarnished look at childhood and adolescence.