Bea Lema, National Comic Award 2024

The jury has highlighted her work ‘El Cuerpo de Cristo’ for “being an innovative work, formally risky, with textures and compositions that transcend the most commonly used techniques without giving up the use of humor and a poetic look”

Bea Lema has been awarded the National Comic Award, corresponding to the year 2024, at the proposal of the jury meeting today. The prize, awarded by the Ministry of Culture, is endowed with 30,000 euros. The jury has highlighted her work ‘El cuerpo de Cristo’ (Astiberri) for “being an innovative work, formally risky, with textures and compositions that transcend the most commonly used techniques without giving up the use of humor and a poetic look. The work has great depth and sensitivity for the way it addresses a subject as complex as mental health from the author's own experience, as well as the vindication of the importance of care”.

The work was produced in 2022 during a residency at the Maison des Auteurs in Angoulême (France) —the result of the synergy between Acción Cultural Española, the Institut Français and the Maison des Auteurs in Angoulême itself. The book she worked on was published in France by the publishing house Sarbacane under the title Des maux à dire and in Spain by Astiberri under the title El Cuerpo de Cristo. It was awarded the Jury Prize at the BD Festival 2023 in Périgord and the Audience Award at the Angoulême Festival; as well as the Bédélys Prize at the Montreal Comic Strip Festival for the best foreign work.

The illustrator and comic author Bea Lema was born in A Coruña in 1985. She has made illustrations for magazines, posters and children's books. Her work, generally autobiographical, deals with themes such as madness, family relationships, religion, trauma and popular rites.br>
In 2017 she received the 12th Castelao Comic Award from the Provincial Council of A Coruña for O Corpo de Cristo, her first graphic novel, an autobiographical project that deals with mental illness from the perspective of a girl. In 2022 she was awarded a scholarship to do a graphic novel residency at the Maison des auteurs in Angoulême (France). The book she worked on, based on that first comic and published in France by the publisher Sarbacane under the title ‘Des maux à dire’ and in Spain by Astiberri under the title ‘El Cuerpo de Cristo’, has been awarded the Jury Prize at the BD 2023 Festival in Pèrigord, the Audience Award at the Angoulême Festival, the Bédélys Prize at the Montreal Comic Strip Festival for best foreign work and the Grand Prix de la Heroine Madame Figaro in 2024. br>
She is currently working on adapting this book into an animated short film.