In 2026 the world of comics will lose one of its reference festivals. After the friction of the last few weeks, the official announcement has arrived: the Angouleme festival will not take place.
The 2026 edition of the international festival scheduled for the end of January, which had been compromised by the authors’ boycott and the defection of publishers, has been officially “cancelled”, one of the lawyers for the organizing company 9e Art+ told AFP on Monday.
Over the last year, the French festival has already been the subject of strong criticism involving the organization and a scandal which saw an employee fired who allegedly filed a rape complaint.
Following calls for a boycott earlier this month by major figures in the comics world, including “Maus” creator Art Spiegelman and 2025 winner Anouk Ricard, French publishing heavyweights issued a stern warning on Wednesday.
“Given this vast (boycott) mobilization that they include, publishers believe that the 2026 edition can no longer take place,” the National Union of French Publishers (SNE), which represents 24 major publishers, said in a statement. The French government withdrew 200,000 euros ($231,000) of public subsidies for next year’s event, creating a serious hole in finances before the scheduled start on January 29th.
Culture Minister Rachida Dati said she wanted to avoid the festival “becoming a disaster starting from the 2026 edition”.
At the center of the scandal is the management model of the festival, created in 1974, which helped transform Angoulême into a European center of production and expertise in the field of comics. It is managed by a non-profit association chaired by Delphine Groux, daughter of co-founder Francis Groux, but since 2007 it has been organized by one private company, 9eArt+.
“The time has come to move on with 9eArt+ so that the festival can rediscover, with new operators, the values that have contributed to building its international reputation”, reads an open letter dated November 10th signed by 22 former festival first prize winners.
The company recently renewed its contract beyond 2027, prompting a backlash that led the managing association to back down under pressure. The Angoulême festival is no stranger to controversy. In 2022, it had to cancel the participation of French author Bastien Vives, criticized for his graphic novels depicting incest and sexualized children.
Click here and subscribe to our Whatsapp channel! News, in real time, from Agenzia Italia now also on your smartphone