2026 BRAW Comics Jury

Nicholas Blechman is the Creative Director of The New Yorker. He is the former art director of The New York Times Book Review and Op-Ed page. Blechman published, edited and designed the political underground magazine NOZONE, featured in the Smithsonian Institution’s Design Triennial. His illustrations have appeared in major publications throughout the world. In 2012, Blechman won the Rome Prize in Design at The American Academy in Rome, where he created Food Chains, an illustrated blog that goes behind the scenes of food production. He frequently collaborates with Christoph Niemann. Their latest book Conversations, was exhibited at The Met and is in the permanent collection.

Valentina De Poli was born in Milan (Italy) in 1968 and has been a journalist since 1993. Since then, she has focused her work on her relationship with readers and the public, with a particular emphasis on the world of kids and teens. “I thrive on this relationship based on reciprocity,” she says, “which is fundamental

for anyone whose goal is to communicate, in any field and in any form.” Thanks to twenty years of experience at, the multinational entertainment company Walt Disney— she was internationally responsible for the pre-school and tween magazine portfolio, including the comic magazine W.i.t.c.h., and until 2018 she was editor-in-chief of the iconic weekly comic Topolino - she has managed the demands of global publishing markets and she has interacted with the most important

cultural and institutional organisations on the Italian scene. Since 2019, she has been writing for Tuttolibri, the cultural supplement of La Stampa, in the pages dedicated to younger audiences, and collaborates as a content creator at large with Itaca Comunicazione. In particular, she lends her expertise to companies and cultural entities interested in rebuilding their tone of voice, creating targeted content, including podcasts related to educational and narrative projects, of

which she is the author and speaker. Her podcast for Storielibere.fm is Vita tra i Paperi (Life among the Ducks). In May 2022, her book Un'educazione paperopolese - Dizionario sentimentale della nostra infanzia (A Duckburg Education - A Sentimental Dictionary of Our Childhood) was published by Il Saggiatore. In 2023 and 2024, she curated the Book Young and Schools program for the BookPride Fair in Milan.

Bookseller specializing in comics and illustrated children's books for 12 years,  Sarah Vuillermoz is the founder and artistic director of the Gribouillis festival, since 2021 in Bordeaux.