The 19th edition of this festival dedicated to comics will take place at Beja’s Casa da Cultura from June 7 to June 23, with features such as 16 individual and collective exhibitions, most of which will be attended by their authors, as well as a parallel programme of activities, book launches, autograph sessions, cartoon concerts and a book market with the presence of 60 publishers.

Among the exhibitions that will occur during the festival is one by Belgian author Alix Garin, whose book “Don’t Forget Me”, which deals with Alzheimer’s disease, was published last November; and another by Frenchman Jacques Tardi, author of “So was the war in the trenches”, as well as the “Adèle Blanc-sec” series.

Tardi will be returning to Portugal with his wife, the French artist Dominique Grange with whom he published “Elise and the New Parisians”. Director Pedro Fidalgo, who premiered the documentary “N’effacez pas nos traces!”, about Dominique Grange will also attend the festival.

Beja will also be welcoming the Brazilian André Dinis, based in Portugal, the Italians, Gloria Cianpponi and Luca Conca, co-authors of the work “Urlo – Grito no escuro”, the Spaniards Miguelanxo Prado and Javier Rodríguez, as well as the Portuguese Miguel Rocha, whose most recent album is “A rainha dos canibais”, and Kachisou, the “mangaka” Cátia Sousa, author of “Quero Voar”, among others.

Also noteworthy is the group exhibition “Herdeiros do Manguito”, with works by authors from the Bordallo Pinheiro Museum’s comics course.

This festival is one of the municipal initiatives that encompasses the theme of comics in Beja, a city where there is regular artistic and cultural dynamisaton, namely with the Toupeira collective, and where a museum – the first in Portugal – dedicated to arts is in production.