There have been further developments in the prestigious Sophie Castille Awards for Comics in Translation project, founded by Ivanka Hahnenberger to honour the memory and legacy of Sophie Castille and her commitment to expanding the exchange of comics into many more languages worldwide, including through the pioneering resource Europe Comics.
The aim of the award is to recognise the work of the translator in the world of comic books, to highlight the importance of the work of translation in this field and to acknowledge the skill and dedication of the figure of the translator, who contributes significantly to the dissemination and understanding of these works in our country.
The number of languages now covered by these Awards continues to grow, rising to nine this year with the additions of Brazilian Portuguese to the Angelo Agostini Awards in São Paulo, and French at Salon SOBD – Toute la Bande dessinée au cœur de Paris.
After launching in English at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in 2023, this year the English category moves to New York Comic Con in October, under the aegis of ComicsBeat and Pipeline Comics.
Sophie Castille Prize for comics translated into Spanish / Catalan nominees
This year’s Sophie Castille Prize for comics translated into Spanish / Catalan will be announced on Friday 15th May 2026 at the 44th Comic Barcelona Festival organised by Ficomic.
The award will be granted to the best Spanish or Catalan translation of comics published by Spanish publishers during the calendar year preceding the call.
The five shortlisted nominees were (AmazonUK Affiliate Links):
Anna by Mia Oberländer, Translated by Esther Cruz Santaella, Salamandra Graphic | English Edition
In the sleepy German countryside live the Annas, cursed to be too tall for their small town. Laughably long-limbed and gangly, their bodies refuse to conform with societal norms of delicate femininity, and the trauma of being different ripples across generations. And yet, there may be a blessing to their burden; like the mighty mountains surrounding their town, they find that there is resilience and strength to be gained from their heightened perspective. Drawn with delightful exaggeration and formal inventiveness, Anna is a tongue-in-cheek, modern-day fairy tale about being “too big” for a narrow-minded world.
El disturbio eterno by Joe Sacco, Translated by Montserrat Meneses Vilar, Reservoir Books | English Edition
From the ground-breaking graphics journalist and author of Palestine, a revelatory investigation of the deadly sectarian riots in 2013 Uttar Pradesh, India, and their urgent global significance today.
Compared to other episodes of lethal Indian communal violence, the clashes in Uttar Pradesh in 2013, the Muzaffarnagar Riot, were a relatively small-scale affair. It had happened before and will probably happen again: Hindus and Muslims, armed with guns and swords, riled up by vitriolic rhetoric and a tangle of accusations, turn on one another. The truth fragments along religious lines, both in the lead-up to the rampage and in its bloody aftermath.
Joe Sacco immerses himself in Uttar Pradesh, speaking to government officials, political leaders, village chiefs, and especially the victims, who were mostly landless peasants, in a quest to understand this riot as an archetype of political violence. In the process, he probes the role of savagery in a democracy; the power of crowds, rather than leaders, to influence the course of events; the collision of competing narratives; and the accounts that perpetrators construct to explain away their participation in bloodshed.
Sacco has chronicled the urgent histories that define the world around us, from the Great War to Gaza. Here, the award winning cartoonist turns his masterful visual reportage to a story that is specific to India but with implications and resonance for us all.
Impenetrable by Alix Garin, Translated by Eva Reyes de Uña, Norma Editorial | First published in French
In a deeply intimate and moving account, Alix Garin recounts her liberating journey through the complexities of sexual distress. She describes how her struggle to reclaim her body, her desire, and to save her relationship transforms into a poignant quest for healing, liberation, and love. Through highs and lows, failures and triumphs, she explores the depths of her psyche, the connections between the physical and the mental, and the complexities of sexuality. With courage and honesty, Alix delivers a sincere, beautiful, and powerful testimony about the difficulties associated with sexuality, which remain largely misunderstood and often taboo.
Mycelium Wassonii by Brian Blomerth, Translated by Montserrat Meneses Vilar, Reservoir Books | English Edition
Brian Blomerth first fused his singularly irreverent underground comix style with heavily-researched history in 2019’s Brian Blomerth’s Bicycle Day, a Technicolor retelling of the discovery of LSD. Now, the illustrator and graphic novelist continues his wild and woolly excursions into the history of mind expansion with Mycelium Wassonii, an account of the lives and trips of R. Gordon and Valentina Wasson, the pioneering scientist couple responsible for popularizing the use of psychedelic mushrooms. A globetrotting vision of hallucinatory science and religious mysticism with appearances by Life Magazine, the CIA, and the Buddha, Mycelium Wassonii is a visual history and a love story as only Blomerth’s Isograph pen can render it.
Somna by Becky Cloonan & Tula Lotay, Translated by Gema Moraleda, Norma Editorial | English Edition
Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay – both writing and drawing a graphic novel together for the first time! Set amidst the terrifying backdrop of the witch hunts in a quiet 1600s English village, Somna follows one woman’s descent into an erotic escape from the confines of her puritanical world..
There are plenty more languages still to join this expanding Awards programme, so do make contact if you’re interested in becoming part of the Sophie Castille Awards
• The Sophie Castille Awards are online at sophie-castille-awards.org
With thanks to Paul Gravett
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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