 Each year, a network of writing workshops are organised in the metropolitan area, the "Mercurielles", and the Festival of the Book and of Youth Comic Books (since 1987).The Biennial of the 9th Art exhibits the works of comic cartoonists (Enki Bilal in 2002, François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters in 2004, André Juillard in 2006, and Loustal in 2008).In 2002, with the support of the City Hall of Cherbourg, Enki Bilal had planned to create a mural in the old "gare maritime" to represent the history of migration in the place; This project was rejected on the basis of an official complaint by , president of the and the Cité de la Mer.