Will There Be a 2027 Angoulême Comic Strip Festival? (UPDATED)
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Yesterday’s news about the Angoulême International Comics Festival selecting a new organizer left one question unanswered: will there be a festival next January? The contract for 2027 is held by the former organizer, 9eArt+, who is currently in litigation over their contract. Another hurdle is the mere logistics of organizing the biggest comic festival in the world. However, Céline Bagot, one of the main project leads with the new organizer Morgane group, has indicated that they are already working on the 2027 festival.
From an interview with French television BFM we learn a few details. Here are Céline’s responses to the pertinent questions of whether there will be a festival next year:
It is indeed very short (laughs) . We are planning a return in January 2027. The advantage is that by presenting our application, with an already substantial artistic and cultural component, we had already made contact with a number of authors and publishing houses regarding a 2027 program. So we are already in the process of putting it in place.
And if so, how…?
Obviously, in 2027, we won’t be able to offer as many exhibitions as before, but we’re already working with the Cité de la bande dessinée (Comics Museum), which has a program already in place. This will allow us to establish a balance over the next three years, by collaborating with publishers and authors who represent what we envision for the ninth art.
While the Morgane group is moving forward for 2027, 9eArt+ has added Morgane group to their lawsuit against the Association for the Development of Comics in Angoulême (ADBDA)
April 21, 2026:
Press release- FIBD Association- 9th Art +
2nd court order for parasitism
The ADBDA has announced the result of its call for a project in its attempt to illicit reproduction of the International Comic Book Festival (FIBD), without any transparency in stark contrast to the critics it expressed a few months ago.
Lack of dialogue by local authorities and state representatives — despite the seizure of the Angouleme judicial court — the FIBD association and the 9eArt+ company are forced to assign the winner designated by the ADBDA, the Morgane group, for parasitism and unfair competition.
The hearing scheduled for April 15 has been postponed to May 20 at the request of the ADBDA council.
This situation jeopardizes the holding of the FIBD in 2027: a court decision in favor of the historical association and its partner, would cancel the call for a project and make it materially impossible to organize the Festival for the second consecutive year, with heavy economic, social and cultural consequences for the territory forties and more generally for the comic book industry.
At this point it is appropriate to integrate the one relating to all stakeholders, local, national and foreign, which have been left to account with budget and other prejudices, following the cancellation of the Festival 2026 by the public.
In a context where the comic book market is in recession and reading in all age classes, continue to despise the existence, experience and rights of those who managed to generate, through the development of the Festival d’Angouleme for more than 50 years, a recognition major comic as an art form and the first promotional vector of it, is it the risk to take? To this day, the ADBDA and its members continue to respond affirmatively to this question.
Nevertheless, the Association of FIBD and 9eArt+ remain open to a negotiated solution to allow a peaceful transmission, and again call on the Minister of Culture, Madame Catherine Péndá, and the territorial authorities to ensure transparency and respect for law in order to preserve the future of the Festival.
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