US comic book artist Art Spiegelman won the top prize for his craft at France's Angouleme world comic strip festival, the organiser announced at a ceremony on Sunday.

The Swedish-born New Yorker Spiegelman, 62, is best known as the creator of "Maus", an animal fable of his Jewish father's experience in the Holocaust -- the only comic book to have won a Pulitzer Prize, the top US book award.

He also published political cartoons about the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

"Considering my poor skills, I'm looking a little like the president Obama receiving the Nobel Peace prize," Spiegelman told the festival by telephone.

"I've learned so much from the French comics," he added, hailing the festival held in the west of comic-crazy France, before adding a Gallic expletive to celebrate his win.

"As my French wife said when she got the news: 'Merde'!"

The Angouleme festival's prize for best comic strip album was awarded on Sunday to Manuele Fior, a 35-year-old artist from Italy.

Two other Americans, David Mazzucchelli and Joe Sacco, and two Japanese artists, Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezeuka, also won awards.