Seven Taiwanese comic artists are to attend France’s largest comic book festival to promote their works in Europe and meet local readers.
Heading to the Angouleme International Comics Festival next week are Chang Sheng (常勝), Li Lung-chieh (李隆杰), Kiya Chang (張季雅), Iron (鐵柱), Sean Chuang (小莊), A-Tui (阿推) and Chen Pei-hsiu (陳沛珛), the Ministry of Culture said.
A Taiwanese pavilion at Europe’s second-largest comics show is to feature more than 300 publications from about two dozen publishers, headlined The Strangers in Formosa to demonstrate the nation’s cultural diversity, pavilion curator and Dala Publishing Co editor-in-chief Aho Huang (黃健和) said on Wednesday.
Six of the artists have created short comics inspired by the theme “People from another land,” which would be displayed at the pavilion, he said.
The works include two sci-fi comics that explore humanity’s curiosity toward foreign lands; two comics that recreate historic battles; a comic about the story of a Scottish tea vendor in Taiwan; and one about a Frenchman who spends a Lunar New Year holiday with his wife’s family in rural Taiwan.
Chang Sheng, an award-winning artist, said his sci-fi comic about shooting a paper airplane into space was inspired by his musings on what it would take to keep a paper plane in the air.
He said the work focuses on human beings leaving behind their homeland to explore.
“The paper plane represents that hope and dream,” he said.
The artists will draw up works on site at the festival, sign autographs and participate in forums and other activities, the ministry said.
“We hope the international community will gain a better understanding of Taiwan through the artists,” Department of Humanities and Publications deputy head Chu Jui-hao (朱瑞皓) said.
The festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, is set to start on Thursday and run until Feb. 1.
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