The show, an integral part of the Fólio – International Literary Festival of Óbidos since 2015, embarks on its 10th edition with a new chapter. This season is described as “an enigmatic project, filled with fantasy, where reality and fiction coexist in one space,” according to the curator of Ilustra, Mafalda Milhões, who promises it will inspire much discussion, reading, and imagination.
The gallery has once again become the “house of Illustration,” where “there will be no borders between reality and fiction,” as the curator notes. This year, João Francisco Vilhena joins as a special participant, invited to illustrate through photography, capturing the limitless boundaries of imagination.
Through Vilhena’s lens, 30 illustrators who have participated in the PIM event over various editions have been documented. This project, stretching until 2030, aims to gather photographs of more than a hundred illustrators.
Vilhena’s photos are complemented by illustrations from Nastya Varlamova, a Russian visual artist and illustrator. In this edition of Fólio, she transforms the Nova Ogiva gallery into a sketchbook, integrating her narratives with the gallery’s architecture until January 30.
The exhibition, “where the possibilities of art emerge through dialogues between images, sculptures, and texts,” also features the work of editorial designer Jorge Silva and texts by Gonçalo M. Tavares.
“It is a space of wholeness and dialogue, rejecting emptiness and exploring frontiers beyond the physical and geographical — frontiers of the body, consciousness, and thought,” Milhões remarked. The opening was once again preceded by the presentation of the 2025 National Illustration Award.
Presented by the General Directorate for Books, Archives, and Libraries (DGLAB), the award honors illustrator André da Loba for his work on the audiobook “Contos Cantados,” with text by Carlos Marques, in a coedition by Trismegisto and O Bichinho de Conto.
DGLAB highlighted the work for “its refined graphical balance between text and image, illustrative synthesis, and innovative narrative solutions.”
Special Mentions were awarded to Carolina Celas for her illustrations in the book “Deputados do Futuro, Olá!” with text by Isabel Minhós Martins, published by the Assembly of the Republic, and to Mariana Rio for both the text and illustration of the book “Transparente,” published by Livros Horizonte.
Established in 1996, the National Illustration Award annually recognizes an illustrator for a set of original illustrations published the previous year. The winner receives a prize of 10,000 euros and an additional 1,500 euros to support travel to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
PIM! is part of the Fólio Ilustra program, one of the chapters of the International Literary Festival of Óbidos, taking place in the village in the Leiria district until the 19th.
With the theme “Borders,” the 10th edition of the festival features three Nobel Laureates in Literature: Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, South African J. M. Coetzee, and Hungarian László Krasznahorkai.
Over 11 days, the festival hosts more than 460 events, including a hundred author-public interactions, 15 author panels, discussions, seminars, book launches, concerts, and award ceremonies.
Organized by the municipality of Óbidos in collaboration with the municipal company Óbidos Criativa, Ler Devagar, and the Inatel Foundation, the Fólio has been held since 2015 in the village recognized as a UNESCO City of Literature.
