More than 75 Canadian comic book creators and publishers will be in the spotlight at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, in France, which will take place from January 24 to 28.
Around sixty authors will be present, more than half of whom are from Quebec. Among them, note the presence of Red Ketchup co-creator Réal Godbout (Happy who like Ugo), Estelle Bachelard, alias Bach (So much for the likes), Caroline Breault, alias CAB (Utown), Paul Bordeleau (Hypo), Djibril Morissette-Phan (Havana connection), Leif Tande (The cursed old people), Boom (A jellyfish) or even Jeik Dion (Skate park).
On the publishing house side, the leading companies all responded to this “Focus Canada”. Among them, let us mention: La Pastèque, Pow Pow, Front Froid, Nouvelle Address, Moelle Graphik and Drawn & Quarterly.
Canada, which will have its own pavilion, is organizing panels, workshops and signing sessions throughout the festival. A major exhibition called From coast to coast, focus on Canadian comics will also allow visitors to discover all of the Canadian creators present. “Inter-company meetings” are also planned with publishers with the aim of facilitating partnerships.
“Canadian comics are full of creativity,” said Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge in a press release. This festival is the ideal opportunity to showcase the know-how and diversity of our artisans. These cultural exchanges will help strengthen lasting ties, propelling Canadian artistic excellence into the world of comics. »
This year, no Quebec comics appear in the list of eight titles in the official selection for the public prize. Among them, we find among others Astra Novaby Frenchwoman Lisa Blumen; The Daronnesby Korean Yeong-shin Ma; Bad things to sayby the Spanish Beatriz Lema; The undrinkables or how I stopped drinkingby the American Julia Wertz; Paper birdsby the Iranian Mana Neyestani, or even The embarrassed manby Frenchman Matthieu Chiara.