On December 11th to the 13th, 2009, Strip Turnhout, the best little comics festival in the Low Countries, takes over the quiet town of Turnhout in the middle of Flanders. For three days, everybody who’s anybody in the Flemish comics world will be there, either as a visitor or signing their work.
Most of the events at the Festival will probably only be of interest to Flemish comics fans, with the Urbanus exhibition, the traditional Comics in Concert, or the quite large collectors’ fair. But some of the items on the menu make the trip worth it, even for non-Dutch speaking comics lovers.
One of the main exhibitions of this year’s festival is dedicated to the work of Italian fumettisto Milo Manara, who is also the festival’s guest of honour. The exhibition, which is a co-production with Comicon Napoli) will feature original art from Manara’s complete career.
In a collaboration with the Spanish Culture Ministry, five giants of Spanish comics will be present for interviews on Saturday : Alfonso Font (Carmen Bond, John Rohner), Laura Perez Vernetti (El Toro Blanco, La Trampa), Jorge Zentner (Âromm, Dieter Lumpen), Antonia Parras (La Lièvre de Mars) and Max (Bardin The Superrealist) will talk about comic culture in Spain in relation with the rest of the world.
Also on Saturday, Paul Gravett will talk with Matt Madden and Jessica Abel about their comics work, and their work as comics educators (with the Drawing Words & Writing Pictures textbook). On the day before the festival, on Thursday, December 10, Madden and Abel will join Flemish comics creator and workshop superstar Conz in a collloquium on comics and education.
(some lovely art from and (c) Jessica Abel, I think from La Perdida)
So, why not come over and enjoy the friendly atmosphere of this nice little festival, and also get to know some of the best comics art our country has to offer ? Oh, and if you missed the Ceci N’est Pas La BD Flamande exhibition, which was one of the highlights of Angouleme earlier this year (see here), you can still see it for one time only during Strip Turnhout 2009. See you there !
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
have fun at Turnhout, wim! I won’t be there because my daughter will have got a first glimp of the world outside of the womb by then but say hi to my brother who will be there with PLOTS, selling our latest small press comic RIP STERLING, MAN OF ACTION.
Cheerio
ps you were right about the Sexties exhibition