Taiwanese works featured at French comics festival

Paris, Jan. 26 (CNA) Taiwan's comics and artwork were among those featured at the 51st Angoulême International Comics Festival, which began in the southwestern French city on Thursday.

This year, Taiwan's booth was themed "Creative Island," and run by the state-run Taiwan Creative Content Agency, and Locus Publishing.

Comic story writer Loo Hui Phang, president of Nazca Editions Camille Mercier, and François Wu (吳志中), Taiwan's de facto ambassador to France, all visited the booth.

Loo told CNA that the edge Taiwanese comics have is their "curiosity" about the world and their capabilities. As a free country that permits freedom of expression, Taiwan is the ideal environment to promote such "beautiful artistic energy," she said.

Born to Chinese and Vietnamese parents in Laos, she said she enjoys the cultural variety of Taiwanese comics.

However, she also said that while Taiwan has many good artists, it lacks writers with the ability to construct interesting narratives to accompany the beautiful images.

She said many European publishers encounter narrative difficulties when translating Taiwanese works and that more effort needed to be put into adjusting the pieces so they can appeal to a worldwide audience.

Similarly, Mercier told CNA that he appreciates Taiwanese creations for their spirit of experimentation. He said that he loves how the artists express themselves, adding that original pieces focusing on death, identity and travel particularly appeal to readers.

Nazca has published eight Taiwanese comics and is preparing seven more, Mercier said.

He said that Taiwanese creations have begun to find their feet and build up a fanbase in France. Because the French comic market is artist-oriented, interactions with creators will increase the appeal of their work, he added.

Wu said that over the years, he has given hundreds of comic books as gifts to French parliament members, journalists and scholars. "Comics are an important means of communication. Through comics, people can understand Taiwan," he said.

Seven Taiwanese comic artists also attended the festival. They started the opening day with a drawing and signing event, attracting fans with their on-site drawings and sketches.

Readers attending Eli Lin's (依萊) and Dailygreens' (每日青菜) signing event told CNA that they discovered and fell in love with Taiwanese comics last year and that they have continued to learn more about Taiwan's diverse popular culture ever since.

This is the 12th year that Taiwan has attended the comic festival, according to Wu.

The comic festival, which has been held annually since 1974, will run until Sunday this year.

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