More than one hundred professionals from the comics sector will represent Spain, which will participate as a Focus Country in the Angoulême International Comic Festival (France), which will be held between January 29 and February 2. The Spanish delegation, as highlighted by the Minister of Culture in the presentation of the program, has been formed following two fundamental criteria: equal representation and territorial diversity, with representation of the official and “statutory” languages, that is, Asturian. “What we are going to see with Angoulême is also to demonstrate the cultural diversity that we are,” he said. Ernest Urtasun.
In the opinion of the head of Culture, the current moment of the sector is “very good.” 4,600 novelties are published each year and the turnover amounts to 130 million euros, which represents 7 percent of the Spanish publishing market, not counting textbooks. “This has to be reflected in an institutional commitment,” said Urtasun. After the publication of the White Paper last year and the presence as a guest country in Angoulême, Culture plans to soon call for a specific aid line for comics: “It did not exist and we are going to launch it. “It is a recognition of this strategic sector for the country.”
Culture highlights that, of the hundred participants in Angoulême, there is parity between men and women and that there are representatives of all the official languages and Asturian. “Spanish predominates, followed by Catalan/Valencian, Galician, Basque and Asturian, in this order.” According to Urtasun, there will be an “important presence” of Valencian authors, which is intended to support the community after the dana last October. The minister assured that Spanish participation as a guest country in Angoulême represents a “certain continuity” in the purpose of internationalizing Spanish culture, after the presence of Spain as a guest country of honor at the International Book Fair (FIL) in Guadalajara (Mexico). ).
The presentation of the program took place at the French Institute in Madrid, where the general director of Books, Comics and Reading, María José Gálvez; the director of Spanish Cultural Action Programming (AC/E), Inmaculada Ballesteros; the president of the Comics Sector, Alejandro Casasolaand the author Anekerepresenting the Spanish delegation. Gálvez stated that the presence in Angoulême will allow “to show the creativity and enormous diversity that exists in the sector.” Casasola claimed that “comic is industry, comic is culture and comic is art.”
The program, reports the Ministry of Culture, will revolve around four strategic axes: the creative richness of Spanish comics, bibliodiversity, linguistic plurality and gender equality, addressing the vision of the sector from a feminist perspective. Among the authors that make up the Spanish delegation are names like Max or Bea Lema. Also Salvador Larroca, David Aja, Bruno Redondo or Juanjo Guarnido. Artists with a long career such as Marika Vila or Albert Monteys will also participate; as young creators like Nadia Hafid, Yeyei and Alba Chan. Experts and researchers from the world of comics such as Elisa McAusland or Ana Merino will also participate.
Among the activities that will take place in the Spanish Pavilion, the round tables on comics and memory or cartoons and feminism stand out, as well as conversations around great figures in the history of Spanish comics. In total, the agenda proposes seven master classes and meetings with the public; and more than twenty round tables on the most varied topics: ‘Genealogies and comics’, ‘Comic and memory’, ‘Writing with drawings’, ‘The boom of the 80s’, ‘Popular pop and folklore’, ‘Creating readers’, ‘Vignettes and feminism’, ‘History of Spanish comics: tribute to Ibáñez’, ‘The times of TBO: tribute to Josep Coll’ or ‘Social comic’, among others.
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