The Ministry of Culture this month is sending Taiwanese comic artists, including the cofounder of an independent comic magazine, to the Angouleme International Comics Festival in France for the ninth consecutive year.
The artists to be featured at Taiwan’s pavilion this year include Monday Recover (星期一回收日), Animo Chen (阿尼默), Gao Yan (高妍), Wu Yu-shi (吳宇實), Penpoint (筆頭), Nin (the pen name for Li Yu-ning, 李育凝) and Stellina Chen (陳筱涵), the ministry said.
Liu Chien-fan (劉倩帆) and Jelly Bug (水母蟲), selected as finalists in the festival’s Young Talents and Draw Me Comics contests respectively, would also join them, it said.
Photo: CNA
The ministry has run a pavilion at the festival since 2012, it said, adding that the 47th edition of the festival runs from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2.
Curated by Locus Publishing chairman Rex How (郝明義), Taiwan’s pavilion would be titled “Passion of Taiwan Comics,” the ministry said.
The pavilion would include three major sections: one focused on the participating artists, a second that highlights publishers and recommended titles, and a third that looks back on Taiwan’s pavilions in previous years, it said.
Liu, who created the independent quarterly magazine Bo_ing Comix (波音漫畫誌) in 2018 with fellow artist Elainee Fang (房瑞儀), said she and Fang met at a previous edition of the Angouleme International Comics Festival.
They plan to bring the magazine, published in Chinese and English, to this year’s festival, Liu said.
Over the past two years, the ministry has invested considerable resources in the comic scene, Department of Humanities and Publications Director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said at Taipei’s Taiwan Comic Base, which this month is celebrating its one-year anniversary.
“We no longer only have Japanese comics,” she said, while acknowledging the “important influence” they have had on Taiwanese culture.
The ministry plans to host an exhibition from Feb. 17 to March 17 at Taiwan Comic Base showcasing the works featured at the Taiwan pavilion, she said.
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