New stamps celebrate six Canadian graphic novelists

Canada Post has unveiled the second in a two-part series celebrating Canadian graphic novelists.

Graphic novels creatively weave words and art together to tell a wide range of narratives that range from works of fantasy to intimate memoirs. While the medium is relatively new, emerging nearly a half-century ago, it has found a large and passionate global audience that helped launch its artists and authors into cultural significance.

Canada has produced several prominent graphic novelists, and this stamp issue shines a light on six influential Canadian creators: Kate Beaton, Jimmy Beaulieu, Guy Delisle, Julie Doucet, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. These individuals have not only risen to prominence in their field but their works each showcase a diverse and unique approach to storytelling that resonates with readers.

Last May, Canada Post issued the first part of this two-part series showcasing the unique work created by Canadian graphic novelists. This year’s stamp release features the same collaborative design approach: Each graphic novelist worked with Canada Post to create original drawings, exclusively for this stamp issue, featuring the main characters from one of their most celebrated works depicted reading the novels in which they appear.

Here is a closer look at the Canadian graphic novelists presented on our latest stamps:

Kate Beaton

A self-taught artist known for her sharp wit, Kate Beaton first began publishing her comics in the student newspaper while studying history at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. After creating a history-themed comic strip series titled Hark! A Vagrant in 2007, the Mabou, Nova Scotia native published her first full-length graphic novel, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, in 2022. The memoir depicted her move to Northern Alberta to work off her student debt and was celebrated by readers and critics alike for its intimate, damning, yet profoundly human exposé of the industry. In 2023, Ducks won CBC’s prestigious Canada Reads competition, becoming the first graphic novel to earn the honour.

Jimmy Beaulieu

From bookseller to publisher, teacher, critic and, of course, author and illustrator, Jimmy Beaulieu has established himself as a prominent figure in the francophone comic book community. Born in L’Île-d’Orléans, Quebec, Beaulieu has earned widespread recognition for his work, beginning in 2000 with his first autobiographical graphic novel, Quelques pelures. In 2013, Beaulieu published Non-aventures : planches à la première personne, a collection of anecdotes and reflections of the ordinary “non adventures” of his everyday life in Montréal. The 2015 edition won the Prix de la critique de la bande dessinée québécoise, which honours the best in Quebec comics and graphic novels, from the Association des critiques et journalistes de bande dessinée.

Guy Delisle

Guy Delisle’s dry wit, charmingly simple line drawings and sparse, candid storytelling technique have resonated with readers worldwide. Born in Québec, Quebec, Delisle’s works have often been inspired by his travels around the world, including graphic novels set in Shenzhen, China; Pyongyang, North Korea; Burma, Palestine, the West Bank and Israel. The latter became the backdrop of Chroniques de Jérusalem (2011; Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City, 2012), a sensitive and insightful travelogue centred around a year he spent in east Jerusalem with his wife, who was there on assignment with Doctors Without Borders. The graphic novel won several major awards, including the prestigious Fauve d’or at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Julie Doucet

Included in the Joe Shuster Awards’ Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame, Julie Doucet, born in Montréal, first began self-publishing her comics in 1988 and just two years later won the Harvey Award for Best New Talent. Doucet’s earliest works provided a humorous, unflinching and often-uncensored portrayal of her daily life. She continued to produce provocative and popular works as her profile as a graphic novelist grew, including Journal (2004; 365 Days, 2007) which chronicled a year in her life as a comic artist and was published in French by L’Association and in English by Drawn & Quarterly. In 2022, Doucet was awarded the Grand Prix for lifetime achievement at the Angoulême International Comics Festival – the most prestigious award in the comics industry.

Bryan Lee O’Malley

Bryan Lee O’Malley’s career began as an illustrator and letterer with indie publisher Oni Press, which published his first graphic novel, Lost at Sea, in 2003. The following year, O’Malley released Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, the first in a series of books centred around the semi-autobiographical character Scott Pilgrim, a young slacker in a Toronto garage band who sets out to defeat his new girlfriend’s evil exes. The series quickly found a cult following and earned him Best Emerging Talent honours at the Doug Wright Awards. With a drawing style reminiscent of Japanese anime and manga, O’Malley authored six books in the Scott Pilgrim series, which went on to spawn a popular major motion picture, video game and animated series.

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

A self-taught multimedia visual artist, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas blended Asian and Haida influences to create his own method of painting and illustration. A descendant of renowned Haida artists, his 2009 graphic novel, Red: A Haida Manga, pays homage to his roots in the Pacific Northwest through the tragic tale of two orphaned siblings. Born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and raised on Haida Gwaii, Yahgulanaas’s mixed-media installations, large-scale public art projects and other creations have been featured in public spaces, museums and galleries around the world. Exemplifying his inclusive approach and open invitation that we all engage in creativity, the pages of his book can be removed and connected by their flowing “framelines” to recreate a full copy of the original 7.5-square-metre watercolour fresco.

Product: Graphic Novelists (2025): Booklet of 12 Permanent™ domestic rate stamps
Article: 414285111
Quantity: 130,000 booklets
Printing process: Lithography in four colours
Price: $14.88

Product: Graphic Novelists (2025): Official First Day Cover – Kate Beaton
Article: 414285131
Quantity: 4,000
Cancel: Mabou, Nova Scotia
Price: $2.24

Product: Graphic Novelists (2025): Official First Day Cover – Jimmy Beaulieu
Article: 414286131
Quantity: 4,000
Cancel: L’Île-d’Orléans, Quebec
Price: $2.24

Product: Graphic Novelists (2025): Official First Day Cover – Guy Delisle
Article: 414287131
Quantity: 4,000
Cancel: Québec, Quebec
Price: $2.24

Product: Graphic Novelists (2025): Official First Day Cover – Julie Doucet
Article: 414291131
Quantity: 4,000
Cancel: Montréal, Quebec
Price: $2.24

Product: Graphic Novelists (2025): Official First Day Cover – Bryan Lee O’Malley
Article: 414289131
Quantity: 4,000
Cancel: London, Ontario
Price: 2.24

Product: Graphic Novelists (2025): Official First Day Cover – Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Article: 414290131
Quantity: 4,000
Cancel: Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Price: $2.24

Design: Subplot Design Inc.
Printer: Lowe-Martin