VALENTINE CUNY-LE CALLET was born in 1996 and works between France and the United States. In 2018, she illustrated Le monde antique de Harry Potter (Stock). Her militancy in the NGO Acat puts her in contact with Renaldo McGirth, detained in Florida on death row, with whom she has maintained a close correspondence since 2016. This experience resulted in the book Le Monde dans 5m2 (Stock), later expanded into the graphic novel Perpendicular to the Sun, which won numerous awards: the Grand Prix Artémisia 2023 for female comics, the female comic strip, the BD Fnac France Inter Prize, the Prize of the Jury and First Work BDGest, the Livre du réel 2023 Prize and, in Italy, the Romics 2024 Prize for Best European Comics.
FURUYA USAMARU (Tokyo, 1968) is one of the most beloved manga authors in activity. After graduating in oil painting at the Tama Academy, and after taking an interest in sculpture and butō dance, in 1994 he made his debut in the pages of the famous “Garo” magazine with Palepoli (2021), achieving a success that to devote himself full-time to manga, abandoning his career as an art teacher. Since then, he has published numerous series, including Happiness, Genkaku Picasso, Suicide Club and The disqualified, inspired by the work of writer Dazai Osamu. His works have been translated in major Western countries. In addition to Palepoli, Coconino Press proposed in Italy the fantasy La musica di Marie (AnimeClick award as best volume of 2019), the short story anthology Garden (2023), the 7-volume series Amane Gymnasium, currently being published, and the very recent Sodom 1985 and Plastic Girl (2024)
MICHELE PERONCINI was born in La Spezia in 1987. Draftsman and painter, he has published illustrations for the magazine “Linus” and a comic strip short story in the insert of the newspaper ‘Domani’. He collaborates with ETS editions and with the association Archivi della Resistenza di Fosdinovo. His graphic novel I moti celesti (2024) has been selected through the call for new authors launched every year by Coconino Press.
SPAM IL MANDARINO PSICHICO, born Roberto Guerinoni, was born in Brescia in 1997. He moved to Bologna in 2016 to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated in 2022 in Comic Languages. Over the years he has produced several self-published comics, both online and in print, first with the group “Uomini e Lama” and then solo.