The bust of Hergé in Angoulême, November 20, 2025. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP
Barring a highly unlikely reversal of fortune, the Angoulême International Comics Festival (FIBD) in southwestern France will not hold its next edition, scheduled for January 29 to February 1, 2026. In an email sent to a number of its partners, 9e Art +, the much-criticized private company that has organized the event since 2007, announced that it is suspending preparations for the festival.
"We would like to inform you that, as of today, production of the 2026 edition of the Angoulême Festival has been put on hold. We will get back to you very soon with further details. Thank you for your understanding," wrote commercial director and head of protocol, Noémie de La Soujeole, to the recipients. This was the first time, since the unprecedented crisis that has shaken the event in southwestern France, that the private operator in charge of the festival has mentioned stepping back, even if the term "cancellation" was not officially used. "No decision has been made by the organization," 9e Art + told Le Monde.
This decision came after an especially turbulent period in which all stakeholders and partners withdrew from the festival. The boycott by authors that began before the summer and intensified in recent weeks was followed by the withdrawal of publishing houses, then by public funders calling for the next edition to be abandoned.
