In total there will be 40 exhibitions in 40 municipalities throughout Alto Aragón, both in streets and squares, as well as indoors and public spaces.
The Huesca Provincial Council is launching a new edition of La Compañía Ilustrada (The Illustrated Company), its cultural program promoting reading and illustration in the region's libraries. Celebrating its sixth edition in 2026, the program takes on the evocative theme "Mysteries of the Book." The initiative once again transforms these spaces into meeting places for contemporary creation, literature, and imagination, reinforcing the role of libraries as vibrant centers of cultural life in the municipalities. A total of 40 exhibitions will be held in 40 municipalities throughout the Alto Aragón region, in streets and squares, as well as indoors and in public spaces. The first exhibition opens this Tuesday, April 21st, at 10:00 AM in the Fonz Town Hall.
The new edition invites readers to explore mystery in all its forms: the unknown, the hidden, the inexplicable, and also the great questions that permeate literature, as explained by Carlos Grasa, director of La Compañía Ilustrada. The program features a selection of titles ranging from universal classics to recent works, with references such as Frankenstein , The Canterville Ghost, Solaris, The Horla, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Majorana's Disappearance, and Liliana's Invincible Summer . "The idea is to broaden our perspective and remember that mystery doesn't belong solely to detective stories, but also engages with fantasy, science fiction, memory, silence, and everyday life," Grasa emphasizes.
To give visual form to this universe, La Compañía Ilustrada 2026 brings together in its exhibitions the work of ten illustrators with diverse backgrounds and career paths: Juan Berrio, Yeyei Gómez, Javier Olivares, Helena Sbeghen, Lluïsot, Marc Torrent, Candela Sierra, Alberto Aragón, María Montes, and Mayte Alvarado. Their works will form an exhibition conceived specifically for this edition, in which “each artist has engaged with a different book to offer their own interpretation of the mystery. The result is a diverse exhibition, with different perspectives, styles, and sensibilities, capable of introducing the public to both contemporary illustration and new ways of interpreting images. And with all this work, each year we are succeeding in positioning the province of Huesca as a national leader in illustration, ” emphasized the Deputy for Culture, Carlos Sampériz.
Alongside the exhibition, held both indoors and outdoors in the towns, the program includes mediation and participation activities, with meetings and educational workshops in the libraries. One of these is the workshop “Mysteries in a Jar,” led by Eva Naval, an invitation to create short visual stories using everyday objects such as glass jars and cans, combining creative recycling, collage, storytelling, and imagination. Another is the workshop for adults, “Illustrating the Invisible ,” led by Isidro Ferrer , which invites participants to explore the invisible, the hidden, and the imagined within a closed book, giving free rein to the abstract, the symbolic, the poetic, and the absurd. Collage, cut-outs, and pad printing will be the techniques used. In addition, the professional conference “ This Is How We Illustrate” is already scheduled for October 8, 9, and 10.
