Ja! Festival 2012

The 3rd Ja! La Risa de Bilbao revolved around the theme of humour against barbarism. We organised the 'Graphic humour against ETA' exhibition featuring the work of many graphic authors who had satirised terrorism. That year's award went to the prestigious Albanian writer Ismaíl Kadaré for his Kafkaesque humour. In his novels, Kadaré accurately portrays the surrealism of the secretive communist regime and the constant paranoia of party members for fear of falling into disgrace before the dictator Hoxha. The dialogue between Jon Juaristi and Bernardo Atxaga, two friends who distanced for a long time on ideological grounds and buried any differences at our festival, aroused a great deal of expectation.