ANGOULÊME 2026 in serious doubt as publishers and authors cancel to protest Bondoux’s involvement

The future of the Angoulême Festival is in the balance as controversial entity 9e Art+ and its owner Franck Bondoux are set to resume their place as organisers of France’s premier international comics event from 2028.

The controversial Bondoux was approved to continue running the festival in a recent decision by festival owner Association FIBD. The new contract would keep his widely unpopular company 9e Art+ at the helm of the show for an additional nine-year term after its current contract ends in 2027; keeping them in place until 2036. Publishers and creators have taken a stand with a rising number of cancellations making the January 2026 edition rapidly less viable. 

As of time of writing it is believed that over forty publishers have withdrawn from the next edition, set to take place between January 29 and February 1, 2026. The festival – which has three marketplaces spread across enormous pavillions across the town that cater to mainstream, alternative, and manga tastes – is seeing cancellations of booths across the board. The Nouveau Monde alternative market will now struggle to fill its enormous space; meanwhile Manga City (which features manga and East Asian comics) is radically shrunk with the defection of Ki-oon, a major French publisher of hit manga series such as My Hero Academia, Frieren, Apothecary Diaries, and Jujutsu Kaisen. There is also word that a number of subsidiaries of major publishing groups with booths in the mainstream Monde des Bulles have started making moves – and the international rights market has also seen dropouts. 

On Monday a statement posted on Humanité’s website co-signed by twenty Grand Prix winners – including Julie Doucet, Posy Simmonds, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware – said [translated via DeepL]:

“As calls for a boycott multiply, Grand Prix winners are saying with one voice that it is high time to turn the page on 9e Art+ so that the Festival can rediscover, with new operators, the values that built its international reputation.

“Without rapid and profound change, the 2026 edition is likely to be the last.”

The current explosion of outrage kicked off on November 8 when – in a surprise move – festival owners Association FIBD announced that after a the summer call for alternative showrunners, the two finalists, 9e Art+ and the Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image (aka Cité de la BD), were to come up with a joint proposal for the future of the show by November 20. By implication this move would keep 9e Art+ involved at the heart of the event as well as render Bondoux’s public claim of a 2027 retirement from his role of General Delegate and head of 9e Art+ uncertain. He has been in post since 2003.

Also on Monday, a statement from the 51-member alternative publishers group Syndicat des éditeurs alternatifs (SEA) condemned the decision, called for a change at the top but also made public that Bondoux had in late September sent threats of lawsuits to public bodies involved in the “open call” process if his company 9e Art+ were not given the contract.

On the latter point:

“On September 25, Franck Bondoux sent a threatening letter to public partners warning them that he would take legal action to have the procedure canceled and claim damages if 9e Art+ was not reappointed.”

And as for SEA’s message: 

“The SEA calls for the resignation of (Association FIBD president) Delphine Groux, whose irresponsibility and obstructionism have blocked from start to finish any discussions that the representatives of artists and publishing houses have attempted to establish.

“The SEA calls for the dissolution of the company 9e Art+ and for the teams to be taken over by the future structure that will be responsible for organizing the festival.

“Finally, the SEA warns that if the voices of artists and publishers are not taken as seriously as they deserve to be, the consequences will be significant and probably irreversible. Starting in 2026. Then in 2027. And perhaps forever. Many SEA publishers have already canceled their stands for the 2026 edition; others will soon follow suit.”

Likewise the Syndicat national de l’édition (SNE), which includes the major mainstream publishers of comics and graphic novels (including Casterman, Dargaud, Dupuis, Lombard, Delcourt) has released a statement that it will cease its ongoing relationship with the festival starting in 2027. In January the SNE had threatened to do so in 2026 without assurances of a transparent open call for alternative organisers – it then softened to attending in 2026 in the summer when it seemed the Association FIBD had acceded, but remained reticent to attend in 2027 without assurances. According to its messaging, it believes the Association FIBD has misled them throughout. 

The SNE said,

“…beyond this commitment, [members’] trust has been too badly damaged for them to consider continuing their relationship after the 2026 edition without clarification and satisfactory answers about the event’s new organizing structure, its project, its organizational chart, its governance, and its shareholders. Without this necessary transparency, the SNE’s comic book group will not participate in the 2027 edition and beyond.”

Including Cité de la BD, a publicly backed body that operates Angoulême’s comics museum and related venues, in a hypothetical joint-proposal may have been a political fudge to assuage the concerns of public sponsors and bodies like the SNE while navigating Bondoux’s own maneuvers.  Many parties have worried about the lack of transparency of the event, a charge regularly levied against 9e Art+ and the financial affairs of Bondoux himself – but also festival owner Association FIBD whose membership and motivations isn’t clearly known. The festival (as does Cité de la BD) receives international, national, regional, and local government funding but it also draws monies from private sponsorships arranged by Bondoux’s other company Partnership Consulting. It is said that the festival depends 43% on public funds and 57% from private.

Cité de la BD has had a tempestuous relationship with the way 9e Art+ has operated the festival and its director general Vincent Esches has reportedly ruled out any such cooperation. It is possible that if no agreement is reached and no proposal delivered by November 20 then the Association FIBD will automatically default to giving the festival operations entirely to 9e Art+, thus causing further outrage across the Francophone industry, one of the largest comics markets in the world.

A call for alternative organisers for the festival was opened in July after mounting public pressure had 9e Art+’s contract not renewed. With 9e Art+ permitted to participate, the timeline for potential applicants to prepare took place during the summer months (July to early September) when many French businesses are either closed or understaffed. Competitors had realistically a few weeks to assemble a team and come up with a comprehensive proposal by the October 17 deadline. It is believed that around six candidates made submissions, including regional operator Côte Ouest, Paris book fair organiser Paris Livres Evénements, RX France, and Italian show organiser Visiona. Three finalists were supposed to give oral presentations on October 31 before the November 8 ruling but by October 29 only two candidates were still in the running: Cité de la BD and 9e Art+. The process was quickly made suspect in October when it was revealed that the Association had declined to include a qualified third party to oversee the decision and vetting of candidates.

In the days leading up to Saturday’s decision, further pressure was mounted toward the festival association. The most notable being in the French national and regional press, with one (Charente Libre) openly asking if the festival was about to conduct an act of suicide or self sabotage.

The number of publishers that have publicly announced their withdrawal from the show is growing. Those that we know of include L’Association and Çà et là, who withdrew in October. Since November 8 the count includes Super Loto, Exemplaire, Six pieds sous terre, 2042, Magnani, Misma, Atrabile, and manga publisher Ki-oon. Thus far none of the major players have made any moves publicly but if Glénat, Delcourt, the Média Participations group, or the Madrigall group as a whole decide to withdraw then the festival could be in even more serious trouble. Currently their representative body Syndicat National de l’Édition (SNE) has officially ruled out member attendance in 2027, but seems to have left decisions on 2026 to member discretion. It is known that Denoël Graphics, a subsidiary of Gallimard (owned by Madrigall) has reportedly withdrawn.

The organisers of the 2,000+ signature petition Syndicat des Travailleur.euses Artistes-Auteurs (STAA) and MeTooBD immediately released a statement on Saturday calling on signatories and other professionals in the industry to boycott the show or – if contractually obligated to attend – to limit their presence in professional spaces and refuse to do signings (a major draw for attendees). Chris Ware, Posy Simmonds, Art Spiegelman, and Joe Sacco are some of the well known international names who joined the petition months ago. Another authors union, Syndicat national des auteurs et des compositeurs (SNAC), has also released a statement likewise calling for mobilisation. 

SNAC said:

“We can only deplore the lack of attention paid to authors and their massive mobilization, by enacting a decision that is detrimental to the sector. As we emphasized from the outset of the discussions, ‘the same causes will have the same consequences.'”

STAA-MeTooBD instructed their 2,300 signatories:

“The boycott must be total: stay at home. But if you are in Angoulême during the festival, you can refuse to sign autographs, refuse to be accredited, refuse to go to the professional areas, and also participate in collective protest actions.”

In a major symbolic move, 2025 Grand Prix winner Anouk Ricard in October reaffirmed her intention to boycott and decided not to be involved in the honorary exhibition traditionally held at the following year’s event. 

Since Saturday new hashtags and signage has started to emerge on author and publisher social media, one of which is #NoFIBD2026 and ‘Boycott FIBD 2026’ calling for a general boycott. Lewis Trondheim, the creator of the festival mascot Fauve the cat, has reaffirmed his boycott, likewise major names Catherine Meurisse and Aude Piccault. All were original signatories of the petition.

Joining them is another slogan, ‘Girlcott FIBD 2026’, which is a protest based upon the leaked information that the festival was going to do a form of perceived tokenistic female-centric programming (pink-washing) to paper over ongoing manifestations of toxic chauvinism linked to the show. This is particularly prevalent in the minds of professionals after the lightning-rod revelations made public in a January exposé by Humanité magazine of the alleged rape of a female contractor in 2024 and their dismissal by Bondoux when the incident was raised internally. 

Association FIBD president Delphine Groux – daughter of festival founder Francis Groux, who formed the association in 1974 – seems to remain intransigent to the scale of complaints being levied toward the festival, her role and – in particular – Franck Bondoux/9e Art+. She said:

“I’m fed up with all the Bondoux bashing. What do they want? For Franck Bondoux to leave right now? On what grounds? He’s done his job well. He’s achieved results. I don’t see what the problem is. The comic book festival is not to blame for the crisis of overproduction that the profession is experiencing. Nor do we know who will be at the helm of the city in two years’ time…”

The situation with the Angoulême Festival comes at a difficult time for the French industry, experiencing a stark downturn this year that has led some publishers to close or engage in crowdfunding to navigate cashflow shortfalls, and bookshops across the country are also struggling or ceasing operation. Among the list of potential causes is a perceived oversupply/overcrowding of the market with too many publishers and new releases of titles to be considered sustainable. Meanwhile the city of Angoulême is at the beginning of a local election cycle, with the incumbant local mayor Xavier Bonnefont (first elected 2014) particularly frustrated by the timing of the crisis.

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Statement from the national publishers union, Syndicat national de l’edition (SNE), November 10 [translations via DeepL]:

The comic book publishers of the Syndicat national de l’édition have expressed their deep concern following the FIBD’s announcement of the new organizer of the Angoulême International Comics Festival for nine years starting in 2028.

The comic book publishers of the Syndicat national de l’édition have reacted with considerable reservations to the FIBD’s decision to entrust the organization of the Angoulême Festival, from the 2028 edition onwards to a new structure incorporating a joint project between those proposed by 9e Art+ and the Cité de la BD, following a call for projects whose implementation has continued to raise questions.

After reading the press releases from the FIBD and the public authorities, they understand that Franck Bondoux will not hold any position within this new structure and will not be a shareholder, without the precise functioning of this structure or the possible link that Franck Bondoux and his companies could have with it being clarified.

Without a satisfactory explanation, the publishers are also seriously questioning the motivations behind the decision to combine the projects of two opposing candidates.

Throughout the many months and numerous discussions with the FIBD to obtain this call for projects, the publishers never stopped seeking a peaceful resolution to this crisis of confidence that had developed between the festival organizer and its partners, thereby reaffirming their commitment to this major comic book event that they have helped build over more than 50 years.

They called for a fair, honest, and transparent process. It must be said that this exercise was conducted with a complete lack of transparency. Everything that the FIBD had committed to within the ADBDA to guarantee the process was called into question: the appointment of a qualified person who was ultimately omitted, the communication of selection criteria that were ultimately kept secret, and even the hearing limited to two candidates, in violation of their own rules, which stipulated that three of the five candidates submitted should be selected.

However, it was with a commitment to transparency and fairness that the comic book publishers of the Syndicat national de l’édition agreed this summer to participate in the 2026 edition.

Because the comics group of SNE is committed to honoring this commitment and the valuable work already done by its members’ teams, it will not reverse this collective decision, while respecting the individual positions that each member will express.

Because the comics group is worried that this decision by the FIBD will damage the event, causing a lot of authors to withdraw and publishers to reduce their presence, which will affect the program and audience satisfaction.

But beyond this commitment, their trust has been too badly damaged for them to consider continuing their relationship after the 2026 edition without clarification and satisfactory answers about the event’s new organizing structure, its project, its organizational chart, its governance, and its shareholders.

Without this necessary transparency, the SNE’s comic book group will not participate in the 2027 edition and beyond.

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Statement from the Syndicat des editeurs alternatifs (SEA), November 10 [translations via DeepL] :

Following a predictable call for proposals, the Association FIBD announced its decision on Saturday, November 8, renewing 9e Art+’s role as organizer for another nine years.

The Association FIBD has once again demonstrated its inability to listen to the comic book world, which for months has overwhelmingly rejected the reappointment of this company and its director, Franck Bondoux, for reasons that have already been widely explained.

Not completely ignorant of the risks it was taking, the Association FIBD believed it could get away with a sleight of hand by requiring 9e Art+ to collaborate with the Cité de la bande dessinée, the other finalist in the call for projects. In reality, the opposite is happening since, following the press release from the local authorities, it is the Cité that is being forced to join forces with 9e Art+, even though Vincent Eches, the director of the Cité, had expressed his opposition to this unnatural partnership in a letter. The distribution of power within the structure that would bring together 9e Art+, the FIBD, and the Cité would inevitably be to the detriment of the latter.

The Association FIBD is once again demonstrating its contempt for the opinions of others, and it is 9e Art+, and only 9e Art+, that retains sole control of the festival. This is a clear case of private interests hijacking an event that has long been in the public interest, whatever Delphine Groux, president of the Association FIBD, may think.

Public partners (with the exception of the State) saw fit to approve this volatile combination without consulting the interprofessional association. They want to believe Franck Bondoux’s promise to step down from the festival’s management after the 2027 edition. This ignores the fact that Franck Bondoux owns the company 9e Art+, the company Partnership Consulting (in charge of commercial partnerships), as well as the brand 9e Art+ — a brand that has become toxic for a large part of the profession, as has its director. On September 25, Franck Bondoux sent a threatening letter to public partners warning them that he would take legal action to have the procedure canceled and claim damages if 9e Art+ was not reappointed.

This predictable outcome puts the festival in an explosive situation.

Never before has the danger of seeing the most important comics event disappear been so real. Through this sham consultation, the Association FIBD is threatening the very existence of the event it claims to protect.

As a result, the S.E.A. condemns the outcome of this call for projects, which was marred by deliberate opacity and a refusal to follow the rules guaranteeing the impartiality of the process. The S.E.A. is calling for the immediate invalidation of this dishonest result and is calling on the public authorities to bring together the entire profession to implement a thorough reform of the festival and a radical change in its governance.

The S.E.A. calls for the resignation of Delphine Groux, whose irresponsibility and obstructionism have blocked from start to finish any discussions that the representatives of artists and publishing houses have attempted to establish.

The S.E.A. calls for the dissolution of the company 9e Art+ and for the teams to be taken over by the future structure that will be responsible for organizing the festival.

Finally, the S.E.A warns that if the voices of artists and publishers are not taken as seriously as they deserve to be, the consequences will be significant and probably irreversible. Starting in 2026. Then in 2027. And perhaps forever. Many S.E.A. publishers have already canceled their stands for the 2026 edition; others will soon follow suit.

Let’s put an end to the contempt and procrastination. The comic book industry, in all its forms, will not tolerate any longer that the festival that represents it ignores the anger it has been expressing for years. We must urgently come to our senses!

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Grand Prix laureates joint statement, via Humanité (November 10, 2025) [translations via DeepL]

The Angoulême Comics Festival is in mortal danger.

For years, the Festival has been plagued by scandals, communication errors, and a lack of ambition, all amid a total lack of transparency in its management. This state of affairs is seriously damaging the entire profession.

Comics needs this Festival, which has become an essential gathering for authors, publishers, the media, and of course readers.

As calls for a boycott multiply, Grand Prix winners are saying with one voice that it is high time to turn the page on 9eArt + so that the Festival can rediscover, with new operators, the values that built its international reputation.

Without rapid and profound change, the 2026 edition is likely to be the last.

Signed: Florence Cestac, Régis Loisel, Philippe Dupuy, Charles Berbérian, Martin Veyron, Art Spiegelman, Jean-Claude Denis, François Boucq, Chris Ware, Franck Margerin, Jacques Tardi, François Schuiten, Baru, Blutch, Willem, Lewis Trondheim, Riad Sattouf, Hermann Huppen, Max Cabanes, Anouk Ricard, Posy Simmonds, Julie Doucet

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Authors union, Syndicat National des Auteurs et des Compositeurs (Comics Group) statement, November 8 [translations via DeepL] :

FIBD: End of the line?

Despite numerous concerns raised by all stakeholders in the comic book industry, the FIBD association has decided to renew its contract with 9e art + to organize the international comic book festival after 2027.

The SNAC comic book group takes note of this decision. It runs counter to the attempt at appeasement, which has been the goal of negotiations over many months and is desired by the interprofessional association.

We can only deplore the lack of attention paid to authors and their massive mobilization, by enacting a decision that is detrimental to the sector. As we emphasized from the outset of the discussions, “the same causes will have the same consequences.”

Beyond comics, this is a worrying sign of the validation of problematic and toxic managerial practices in the world of culture and events.

We don’t want this anymore. Since the Association refuses to turn the page, we have no choice but to close the book!

As a result, SNAC will not participate in the 2026 FIBD.

SNAC is boycotting and supporting the various calls to action in this regard.

We are calling on authors who wish to make their voices heard and advocate for a necessary shift towards a more peaceful professional environment to join us for a day of action at the end of January!

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Creators union Syndicat des Travailleur.euses Artistes-Auteurs (STAA) and pressure group MeTooBD statement, November 8 [translations via DeepL]:

WHAT FUTURE FOR THE ANGOULÊME FESTIVAL?

We didn’t have high hopes, but we’re still disappointed.

In a final twist, 9eArt+ remains in place as festival operator for the time being, with the obligation to work with the teams at the Cité de la BD, the other semi-finalist, starting with the 2028 edition. This requires a joint project from both entities to be presented by November 20, 2025, at the latest. We promise, if we are patient, this time it will be the right one! Delphine Groux is only buying time with this maneuver, which is fooling no one.

It is still obfuscation and contempt that guide the association’s team, which continues to shut itself away in its ivory tower, despite repeated warnings. It is staggering to see the level of negligence on the part of the FIBD association in the face of the challenges of this internationally renowned festival.

The contempt for authors and all those in the industry who have challenged them is obvious. The contempt for public funders is just as obvious. The inter-organizational comics group will take the initiative of writing an open letter to public funders in parallel with this newsletter to hold them accountable.

The mobilization must match the moment: several initiatives are in the works. As a first step, we ask you to mobilize your networks to spread the boycott logos. The more visible and united we are, the stronger we will be! You can use the hashtag #nofibd2026 on your social media accounts.

In general, we invite you to speak out publicly about the situation and this intolerable abuse of power. If you have press contacts, now is the time to write to them!

The boycott must be total: stay at home. But if you are in Angoulême during the festival, you can refuse to sign autographs, refuse to be accredited, refuse to go to the professional areas, and also participate in collective protest actions.

Several initiatives will follow. But we need your help to ensure that the next edition of the FIBD is remembered as the one where collective action took place! Collective struggle pays off, as evidenced by the recent mobilization of art workers in favor of future professional elections for our Social Security organization at the National Assembly!

The Groux-Bondoux partnership continues and, as a result, we will no longer be taking part in the festival!

All our support goes to Chloé.