Eva Mejuto

(Spain, 1975)

PhD in journalism from the Santiago de Compostela University (USC), she worked in the publishing sector from 1998 to 2016 and since then, until now, she works in the field of cultural management. She taught for ten years at the master's degree in Illustrated Books and audiovisual animation at the University of Vigo, and completed her doctoral thesis on social realism in the illustrated album Álbum testimonio, acercar la realidad a los niños y niñas. Specialist in reader mediation, children's literature and illustrated album, she teaches training courses for teachers and mediators, as well as writing workshops and reader meetings with students from kindergarten to secondary education. She coordinates the International Children's and Youth Book Fair of Pontevedra, and participates in various cultural management projects related to the world of books and reading.

In the field of literary creation, she is the author of various adaptations of traditional tales for illustrated album format, with great success with a wide audience and translated into more than ten languages, among which are The shy fly's house  (Kalandraka 2009) and Run, Pumpkin, Run, Three Wishes and Maria (OQO).

In juvenile fiction, she has published the novels 22 segundos (Xerais, 2017 and Lóguez 2020), the first Galician juvenile novel that deals with trans childhood, with an edition in Spanish by the publisher Lóguez and Memoria do silencio (Xerais, 2019) and A ladroa da biblioteca de Meirás (General 2022), (with these two she was a finalist for the Jules Verne Prize for Youth Literature). 

In 2021, she was awarded the School Libraries Prize as the most read author of the year, and her children's narrative work Neko (Oqueleo, 2021) received the award for the best children's book at the Follas Novas Awards. 

In children's literature, she has also published the novel: O día que choveron gatos, a finalist work for the Merlin Prize for Children's Literature. In theater, she has written the play Os contos do lobicán, winner of the Barriga Verde Theatre Award for puppets of the Galician Cultural Industries Agency. In a short story, with the book Matilde she won the Matilde Bares Award for Equality. 

She manages the collection of illustrated albums Pequena memoria of the Xerais publishing house, on historical memory for young audiences, in which she published: A lavandeira de San Simón, about the civil war in Galicia, with illustrations by Bea Gregores. This collection received the Follas Novas Award for the Best Publishing Initiative in 2020. She has recently released the album Cando leo, a tribute to the book and reading with illustrations by Bea Gregores (Spanish version will appear soon) edited by Xerais. Con Triqueta publishing house, she has recently published the albums: Animalfabeto, with illustrations by Nuria Díaz and El gran circo de las palabras, with illustrations by Fernando Martín.

She has also published in the field of dissemination with the book of interviews Memoria diversa, about the memory of the LGBTIQA+ collective in Galicia, with photographs by Carme Cerviño, edited by Capicúa for the Provincial Deputation of Coruña, work awarded with the Follas Novas Prize for the best dissemination work in 2023. She is currently carrying out the second part of the project, focused on the LGBTIQA+ movements of Galicia in the 90s and the beginning of the 21st century.

She was a literary collaborator in the TVG program Zig-zag diario, and currently does reviews of juvenile children's books at the Cultural Diary of the Galician Radio, and coordinates the podcast of the Xunta de Galicia on books and libraries: Entreliñas. 

Other activities involving the participant:

Literature between dogs and cats

Manel Cráneo

(Spain, 1973)

Multidisciplinary artist with extensive background. As a comic book author, hundreds of pages of his appeared in publications such as BD Banda, Barsowia, De los Veces Breve, Lana Resistencia and dozens of Galician and Spanish magazines. He published graphic novels such as Dámsmitt (Dibbuks, 2006), Los lobos de Moeche (Demo Editorial, 2009), Cosas de muertos (Demo Editorial, 2012), La torre de los moros (Demo Editorial, 2012), Destino Hërgüss (Demo Editorial, 2015) and in 2023  Cinza. He collaborated on collective volumes for publishers such as Astiberri, Ariadna or Ediciones Generales. 

In audiovisual media, he produced and directed a pilot episode for an animation series based on his personal universe Planeta Mincha, and other 2D animation pieces and the historical documentary El reiciño de Galicia. 

As an illustrator he worked for different publishing houses such as Richmond Publishing, Usborne, Santillana, Rodeira (SM), Galaxia, Generales, Porto, Chiado or Everest, among others. His work was exhibited in numerous exhibitions in Spain, Portugal, France and Cuba, both personal and collective. 

Among his awards, the National Comic about the Life and Work of Federico García Lorca (Granada, 1998) stands out. 

He has given more than 350 talks, workshops and conferences on illustration, BD and visual narrative in the last 25 years in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Cuba or Germany. His connection with the audiovisual world and the advertising sector led him to collaborate in countless cinematographic and advertising projects and feature films performing different functions, from story-boarder even a screenwriter or an art director.

He was the founder and president of the AGPI (Galician Association of Illustration Professionals). He was Vice president of the FADIP (Federation of Professional Illustrators Associations, Spain). He is editorial director and owner of the publishing house and cultural production company Demo, creator of the entertainment brand Planeta Mincha, director of lana plataforma de artistas gráficos Coruña, and since 2024 director of the comic festival Vignettes from the Atlantic in A Coruña.

Other activities involving the participant:

Manel Cráneo: From author to editor and vice versa. 30 years creating comics.