Dissident Comic, Queer Comic in Spain and India
In celebration of Mes del Orgullo 2025 (Pride Month), the Spanish Embassy in India with the collaboration of Instituto Cervantes New Delhi, organise a round table with LGBTQIA+ comic artist and illustrators from both countries.
Participants:
Susanna Martín is a comic book artist, queer non-binary activist, and feminist. In 2010, she published Alicia en un mundo real, and since then, she has specialized in creating comics with a strong focus on social, political, and journalistic issues, marked by a dissenting, critical, and committed perspective. Between 2019 and 2024, her notable works include Annemarie, Ofensiva Final, Anna Dédalus Detective, Històries de la Model, and Surfista. As both scriptwriter and illustrator, she created Residencia de Estudiantes, Irse o morir, and a trilogy of comics about Palestinian refugee women: Gaza Amal, Halima: Derribando muros, and Ahlam: Soñar con una vida. She also adapted Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa into a comic. In 2023, she was awarded the Premi ARA for non-fiction comics in Catalan. She is a member of the Collective of Women Authors of Spain.
Amruta Patil, writer and painter, is India’s first female graphic novelist. She is the author of the queer cult classic ‘Kari’ (HarperCollins 2008), Mahabharata-based ‘Adi Parva: Churning of the Ocean’ (2012) and ‘Sauptik: Blood and Flowers’ (2016), and the Vedic/ecofeminist parable ‘Aranyaka’ (2019). In 2017, Patil received a Nari Shakti Puraskar from the President of India for “unusual work that breaks boundaries” in art and literature. She is currently working on her fifth book - an alternate ethnography featuring art, eros, escape artists - and painting large format.
Priya Dali is a work-in-progress human, illustrator, and the Creative Director of Gaysi Family—India’s biggest creative platform for desi LGBTQIA+ folks. In her free time, she draws bad jokes and dreams of creating more queer children’s books.
Moderator:
Anish Gawande is a writer, translator, and politician currently serving as the National Spokesperson for the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). A Rhodes Scholar, he holds degrees in comparative literature from Columbia University and in intellectual history and public policy from the University of Oxford.
Anish is the founder of Pink List India, the country’s first archive of politicians supporting LGBTQ+ rights, and a recognised advocate for inclusion and equal rights. As a translator, he has brought the poetry of Ramchandra Siras from Marathi to English. He continues to write and speak on contemporary art and literature, while also curating exhibitions at prominent art galleries across India.
