The International Comics Festival in Angoulême
The Angoulême International Comics Festival (Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême) was founded in 1974 by Francis Groux, Jean Mardikian and Claude Moliterni. It has become Europe’s most important comics event and one of the biggest in the world. For several days the small city of Angoulême in western France fills with more than 200,000 visitors, about 2,000 authors and illustrators, publishers, and reporters from around the globe.
The festival is traditionally held in the depths of winter, at the end of January. Rather than using one central venue, it spreads across the old walled town above the Charente River. Exhibition marquees, publishers’ pavilions, cinemas, museums and public squares all take part. After a pause in its history, the festival is returning under a new organizer, the team behind the Francofolies de La Rochelle and the Printemps de Bourges, with renewed attention on authors and artistic diversity.
Angoulême Comics Festival Highlights:
- The Fauve d’Or and the Grand Prix: The festival’s awards are among the most prestigious in comics. The Fauve d’Or goes to the year’s best album, and the Grand Prix de la Ville d’Angoulême honors a living creator’s lifetime work. Past Grand Prix winners include Hergé’s heirs in spirit, from Moebius to Rumiko Takahashi.
- Exhibitions Across the City: Large retrospectives, original artwork shows and themed exhibitions are spread through the city’s venues. They cover everything from Franco-Belgian classics and manga to American comics, graphic novels and underground zines.
- Signings and Live Drawing: Publishers’ pavilions host long signing sessions where fans queue for a dédicace, often a small original sketch, from their favorite artists. There are also concert-drawing performances, masterclasses and author talks.
- Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée: The riverside comics museum and library holds one of the largest collections of original comic art in Europe. It becomes a key hub of the festival program.
Tips for Visitors & Trip Planning:
- Tickets and Passes: Entry is usually sold as one-day or multi-day passes that cover the exhibitions and pavilions. Buying in advance saves time at the busy entrance points, and weekends are by far the most crowded days.
- Getting Around the Festival: Venues are scattered between the hilltop old town and the Charente riverbank, so expect plenty of walking and some steep streets. Between venues, follow the city’s painted comic murals (murs peints), which bring well-known comic scenes to building walls all over town.
- Getting There: Angoulême is on the high-speed rail line between Paris and Bordeaux. TGV trains from Paris Montparnasse take roughly two hours, and the station is a short walk from the old town. The nearest major airport is Bordeaux-Mérignac, about 1.5 hours away by road or rail.
- What to Wear: Winter in Charente is cold, damp and often rainy. Bring a warm waterproof coat, layers and comfortable waterproof shoes for long days moving between pavilions and outdoor queues.
- Accommodation: Angoulême is a mid-sized city, and its hotels fill up months ahead for festival week. Many visitors end up staying in Cognac or further out along the rail line, so booking well in advance is strongly recommended.
- Explore Angoulême: Add a day to walk the ramparts and see the Romanesque Saint-Pierre Cathedral, or take a trip to the cognac houses of the Charente valley nearby. Browse top Angoulême tours and activities here.
The full program of exhibitions, signings and award ceremonies is published on the festival’s official website in the weeks before the event. See details below, under “Event Related Information” section.
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