After a summer reprieve, Angoulême Festival’s ongoing crisis erupted once more as the deadline for alternative showrunners entered its final days. Grand Prix recipient Anouk Ricard confirmed her decision to boycott next year’s festival, and two publishers have officially declared they will not attend. Meanwhile it is believed that widely unpopular incumbent 9e Art+ is the favourite to replace itself.
First a little recap: the Angoulême Festival – full name Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême (FIBD) – is owned by an association (Association FIBD) comprised of key stakeholders, mainly the original organisers, volunteers and their heirs. The operation of the festival is contracted out to a private company. Since 2006 it’s been run by Franck Bondoux‘s 9e Art+, with Bondoux taking the position of General Delegate. Both Bondoux and 9e Art+ have regularly been layered in controversy – with a particularly damning January report in Humanité magazine talking of mismanagement, employee burnout, overcommercialisation, and the mishandling of the alleged rape of a contractor at the 2024 edition. In 2025 the nine-year contract with 9e Art+ was up for renewal or cancellation, with the next organizer taking over from the 2028 event. The association appears firmly attached to Bondoux’s company but reasons remain unknown. In July, following months of pressure, the association suddenly announced an open tender for new organizers with the deadline set for October 17. 9e Art+ was allowed to apply to resume its position. In theory the association would consider all alternative tenders that met the requirements they set with a final decision to be made November 8. In theory, anyway.
On October 13 (four days before the October 17 deadline) Humanité published a piece claiming that 9e Art+ was the “favourite” to win the call for alternative showrunners. Although Franck Bondoux had announced his intention to retire as General Delegate of the Festival and manager of 9e Art+ after 2027’s event, it is believed that as 9e Art+ majority shareholder his control over the festival will shift behind the scenes.
In response a major symbolic blow occurred as the 2025 Grand Prix recipient Anouk Ricard (Anna & Froga, Animan, Benson’s Cuckoos) reaffirmed her intention to boycott the next edition – set to take place January 29 to February 1, 2026. At Angoulême Festival those who receive a Grand Prix career achievement award get a major exhibition at the following year’s show and design one of the main festival posters. If her exhibition is currently being put together for Angoulême 2026, it will be without her involvement – and may not contain any of her original art (or have to rely on third parties). Ricard was one of the signatories of the 2,000-strong petition in April that also involved seven other Grand Prix recipients including Julie Doucet, Posy Simmonds, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware.
In a post on social media, Ricard said [translated via DeepL]:
“Being selected for the Angoulême Grand Prix 2025 by my fellow comic book authors is a tremendous honor. It is the highest form of acknowledgement for me.
“In the current context surrounding the organization of the festival, I have decided not to participate in the 2026 edition or in the exhibition that was to be dedicated to me.
“This is a personal, carefully considered choice, in line with my convictions and in support of those who are calling for necessary change and for a boycott. For a festival that is more respectful and attentive to all voices.
“I hope that this decision will be understood for what it is: a gesture of conscience and solidarity, not a rejection of comics or their audience.”
The organizers of the original petition, Syndicat des Travailleur.euses Artistes-Auteurs (STAA) and MeTooBD also made a press statement via Humanité, saying:
“While officially claiming to be launching an open tender for projects on fair terms, the Festival Association is not honoring its commitments. Ms. Groux (Delphine Groux, president of the Association FIBD) has dismissed the idea of appointing a qualified representative to the committee that will select the new event organizer, even though this promise was desired by all partners, including public funders.
“It is clear that this call for proposals has been biased from the outset, as the choice of the new event organizer seems to have been made long ago: 9e Art+! This is a company that does not hesitate to show its contempt for authors, and we do not want to see it renewed for another nine years at the head of the Festival.”
They also made four demands: that the festival must (1) “be safe and inclusive”, (2) “reflect the diversity of creativity”, (3) “fairly compensate all authors”, and that it must (4) “provide a dedicated reception area for authors”
As well as Ricard, two indie publishers separately declared their intention not to attend the festival: L’Association and Çà et là. L’Association was part of the new wave of alternative publishers that emerged in the 1990s and is most famous for being the original publisher of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. Çà et là is another independent with a significant level of clout, with several of its critically acclaimed graphic novels receiving the Fauve d’Or (Best Book) prize at the festival in recent years. It is possible that more alternative publishers will come forward of their own volition but the representative syndicate they are members of cannot under French competition law orchestrate collective action.
Another significant symbolic move was the withdrawal in protest of France’s National Union of Authors and Composers (SNAC) from the Association for the Development of Comics in Angoulême (ADBDA), comprised of local and public bodies, publishers, and the festival association. In a statement on October 17, it declared:
“…In an atmosphere of perpetual suspicion, the FIBD has engaged in nothing more than a dialogue of the deaf with us, marked by several reversals. This is evidenced by the recent refusal to include a qualified individual, who would guarantee neutrality, in the competitive bidding process—a particularly alarming signal sent to all of the Festival’s partners and funders.
“We consider that the conditions necessary to guarantee an objective choice of service provider by the FIBD have not been met.
“As a result, SNAC is relinquishing its functions within ADBDA, which is currently unable to voice our legitimate concerns regarding the process of appointing the Festival’s new operator.”
Who Else Is There?
Although 9e Art+ may be the “favourite”, there are believed to be six total applicants in the race according to Le Monde and Charente Libre. The Association FIBD set a stiff requirement for candidates including proof of experience with events organization, declaration of three years turnover, and a list of references covering the last five years. The other five entrants in the race are said to include:
- Côte Ouest, events offshoot of the Sud-Ouest press group (which owns regional, Angoulême-based newspaper Charente Libre). It has run the wine festival and a tennis tournament in Bordeaux, and this past weekend ran a skate culture festival – among others. It has partnered with former Angoulême Festival employee Céline Bagot, who filled multiple roles between 2016-2019, for its bid.
- La Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image [The International City of Comics and Images]. An Angoulême-based operation that promotes comics, illustration and animation. It runs three buildings linked to comics, illustration and animation, which includes the impressive comics museum and archive, a public library, a two-screen cinema, and the Maison des Auteurs which offers residencies to artists from across the globe. It annually partners with the festival to provide additional programming and gallery space. Its bid is supported by local, regional, and national, and international public bodies.
- Paris Livres Evénements, subsidiary of the Syndicat national de l’édition (National Publishers Syndicate) and organizer of the Paris Book Fair
- RX France, the local arm of RX (formerly Reed Exhibitions). The organization is well experienced running professional trade shows, with RX France having them located mainly in Paris and Cannes. RX does own ReedPop – owner/organiser of New York Comic Con, C2E2, Emerald City Comic Con, and MCM – so it isn’t completely without expertise, albeit for pop culture events.
- Visiona, an Italian cooperative behind Comicon Napoli, whose president Claudio Curcio has partnered with publisher Glénat’s former director general Jean Paciulli in France to submit the application to run what is essentially a French national event. Comicon Napoli is described by Le Monde as being somewhat comparable in scope to Angoulême as it attracts 183,000 visitors, 400 exhibitors, 300 guest authors.
Tensions remain high but the process has begun. The top three candidates will have to give oral presentations on October 31, whoever gets the contract will be declared November 8. If it turns out to be 9e Art+ all hell could break loose.
Correction: The Cité de la BD receives international as well as French local, regional, and national funding.
Anouk Ricard full social media post (translated via DeepL)
“Angoulême Festival 2026
“Being selected for the Angoulême Grand Prix 2025 by my fellow comic book authors is a tremendous honor. It is the highest acknowledgement for me.
“In the current context surrounding the organization of the festival, I have decided not to participate in the 2026 edition or in the exhibition that was to be dedicated to me.
“This is a personal, carefully considered choice, in line with my convictions and in support of those who are calling for necessary change and for a boycott. For a festival that is more respectful and attentive to all voices.
“I hope that this decision will be understood for what it is: a gesture of conscience and solidarity, not a rejection of comics or their audience.
“I will not be commenting further on this subject in the media. I wish to continue creating at my own pace and in my own space.
“See you soon.”
STAA/MeTooBD statement in full (translated via DeepL):
“As the Angoulême Festival association prepares to select a new service provider to manage the event, organizations representing comic book authors are speaking out collectively to call for a charter of best -practice guidelines.
“At a time when the Angoulême Festival Association must choose a new service provider to manage the event, we, as organizations representing comic book authors and allied organizations, have agreed on a set of demands regarding its operation.
“While officially claiming to launch a fair call for projects, the Festival Association is not honoring its commitments. Ms. Groux (Delphine Groux, president of the FIBD Association) has dismissed the idea of appointing a qualified person to the quorum that will appoint the new service provider, even though this promise was desired by all partners, including public funders.
“It is clear that this call for proposals has been biased from the outset, as the choice of the new service provider seems to have been made long ago: 9eART +! This is a company that does not hesitate to show its contempt for authors, and we do not want to see it renewed for another nine years at the helm of the Festival.
“Given its unrivalled status, the Angoulême Festival has a duty to be exemplary. It must be a popular festival, accessible to all and rooted in the local area. This means affordable admission prices, free admission for disadvantaged groups, and special discounts for city residents.
“In general, to promote greater dialogue with the local population and community organizations. The management of festival infrastructure and the issue of accommodation during the Festival are important topics that also deserve to be addressed by public institutions.
“We would also like to unanimously emphasize that without authors, there would be no books and no festival. Regardless of the service provider selected at the end of the consultation process, we will remain vigilant in ensuring that our demands are met, in particular through a concrete, written commitment from the service provider that includes the following crucial points:
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- “The Angoulême Festival must be safe and inclusive. Festival staff must be trained to properly handle the reception of people with specific needs or situations of gender-based and sexual violence, with the priority of making this event a “safe place.”
- “The Angoulême Festival must reflect the diversity of creativity, highlighting all artistic trends in the medium without favoring the commercial aspect, while remaining international and open to new approaches.
- “The festival must fairly compensate all authors (for signings and other activities) and other participants, as well as exhibitions, and subsidize prize money. In addition, while the commitment to remunerate authors for book signings has been formalized, it is necessary that their schedules be adjusted to facilitate their access to exhibitions and/or masterclasses, activities that are of primary concern to them.
- “Finally, the Angoulême Festival must also provide a dedicated reception area for authors (focusing on three areas: information, training, and relaxation).”
“For too many years, our conditions as workers at the earliest stages of the book chain have been disregarded by the industry and public authorities. Thanks to the collective mobilization of the entire profession, we will finally be taken seriously. Working collectively is a strength, and artists and authors are workers with rights. Copyright protects our works, not us. It is time to draw inspiration from the long-standing struggles of our comrades in other professional fields to obtain what is rightfully ours.
“Let us repeat it with one voice: the call for a boycott remains valid, and we invite those who wish to take action to join us!
Signatories: STAA CNT-SO, METOO BD, SNAP CGT, LA LIGUE DES AUTEURS PRO, FUTURE OFF, Collectif des Créatrices de BD contre le sexisme, SNÉAD, ABDIL
Syndicat National des Auteurs et des Compositeurs (SNAC) press release, October 17, in full (translated via DeepL):
“Angoulême Comic Book Festival: SNAC quits ADBDA
“Since ADBDA (Association pour le développement de la BD à Angoulême) was set up in 2017, SNAC has always been committed to constructive discussions with the various players involved in the Festival, and to finding real ways to move forward for this popular event that’s all about the “common good.”
“Alongside publishers and public authorities, the Festival’s major financial backers, SNAC has participated in numerous ADBDA meetings since this year’s edition aimed at ensuring the future of this event under peaceful conditions—particularly for female authors, as the fight against sexism and sexual violence is one of our union’s core concerns.
“With a new operator to be chosen for the 2028 edition by the Association FIBD, the sole decision-maker on the future of the Festival, lengthy discussions took place within the ADBDA to ensure that the competitive bidding process necessary for the preservation of this major event took place under the best possible conditions.
“SNAC regrets to note that this objective has not been achieved. In an atmosphere of perpetual suspicion, the FIBD has engaged in nothing more than a dialogue of the deaf with us, marked by several reversals. This is evidenced by the recent refusal to include a qualified individual, who would guarantee neutrality, in the competitive bidding process—a particularly alarming signal sent to all of the Festival’s partners and funders.
“We consider that the conditions necessary to guarantee an objective choice of service provider by the FIBD have not been met.
“As a result, the SNAC is relinquishing its functions within the ADBDA, which is currently unable to voice our legitimate concerns regarding the process of appointing the Festival’s new operator.”
