Toronto Public Library and The Beguiling present
TCAF 2017 – The Toronto Comic Arts Festival
@ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street
Professional Development: Friday, May 12, 8:30am-5pm
Saturday, May 13, 9am-5pm
Sunday, May 14, 10am-5pm
Free to attend
www.torontocomics.com
TORONTO, CANADA — We here at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival are pumped and excited to announce our initial Featured Guests and Events for TCAF 2017! With over 400 cartoonists from more than 20 countries on their way to Toronto this May, we’re getting ready celebrate the very best in comics, graphic novels, bandes dessinées, and manga! Prepare yourself for a week of readings, launches, and art events culminating in a massive, FREE two-day exhibition at Toronto Reference Library, May 13 and 14, 2017! Tell your friends!
Every year the Toronto Comic Arts Festival showcases Canada’s incredible comics talent on a world stage by promoting some of our best and brightest creators and publishers, and inviting the attention of the global cartooning community. The 2017 programme builds on our previous successes, with a continued commitment to offer more engaging programming, in multiple formats, focusing on compelling and challenging work being made across the world. Art sales and exhibition, increased programming, and gallery shows are once again at the core of the 2017 programme.
Featured Guests of TCAF 2017 include:
Pénélope Bagieu is a bestselling graphic novel author from France. Her editorial illustrations have appeared all over the French media. She blogs, drums in a rock band, and watches lots of nature shows. Pénélope is returning to TCAF in support of California Dreamin', her latest English-translation from First Second Books!
Katherine Collins is the acclaimed creator of the comic strip Neil the Horse, which ran in Canadian Newspapers from 1975 - 1982. It subsequently appeared in fifteen comic book issues from 1983–1988. Collins is attending TCAF in support of The Collected Neil the Horse, debuting at TCAF 2017 from Conundrum Press.
Guy Delisle is best known for his travelogues about life in faraway countries: Burma Chronicles, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen. In 2012, he was awarded the Prize for Best Album for the French edition of Jerusalem at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Guy is returning to TCAF to present Hostage from Drawn + Quarterly.
Jeff Lemire is an award-winning writer and artist of the acclaimed literary graphic novels Essex County, The Underwater Welder, The Nobody, Sweet Tooth, and Trillium. He gained greater acclaim in 2016 as the artist of Secret Path, in collaboration with Gord Downie. Jeff is returning to TCAF in support of the collected A.D.: After Death, as well as his latest graphic novel, ROUGHNECK. He is also a TCAF 2017 Poster Artist!
Gary Panter made his mark in the ’80s as head set designer for the successful kid/adult TV show Pee Wee’s Playhouse, a job which brought his jagged art and surreal cartoon ideas into the homes of America and bagged him two Emmy Awards. His notable underground comics works include Jimbo, Adventures in Paradise, Jimbo's Inferno and Facetasm. He's returning to TCAF to present Songy of Paradise, published by Fantagraphics.
Gengoroh Tagame is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in gay BDSM erotic manga, many of which depict graphic violence. However, he is returning to TCAF to debut the English-language translation of My Brother's Husband with Pantheon. This is a decidedly less violent and erotic story for all audiences, which was awarded an Excellence Award at the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2015.
Jillian Tamaki is an illustrator and cartoonist based in Toronto. She is the co-creator along with her cousin Mariko Tamaki of the award-winning graphic novels Skim and This One Summer. Jillian's other works include Gilded Lillies, Indoor Voice, and the Eisner Award-winning SuperMutant Magic Academy. She is returning to TCAF to debut her latest collection, Boundless, from Drawn + Quarterly.
Marcelino Truong is an illustrator, painter, and author. Born the son of a Vietnamese diplomat in 1957 in the Philippines, he and his family moved to America (where his father worked for the embassy) and then to Vietnam at the outset of the war. He attended the French Lycee in London, then moved to Paris where he earned degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and English literature at the Sorbonne. Marcelino is coming to TCAF for a Canadian tour of his first book, Such a Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961-63.
Ngozi Ukazu is the creator of Check, Please!, an online graphic novel whose printing campaign remains the most funded webcomics Kickstarter ever. She graduated from Yale University in 2013 with a degree in Computing and The Arts, and received a masters in Sequential Art in 2015 from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Special Programmes: NBM Turns 40!
TCAF is very excited to host a special celebration of the 40th Anniversary of NBM Publishing! In addition to a wide range of programming highlighting their diverse author range, and their 'Papercutz' brand of children's material, NBM will join in welcoming some wonderful creators for the 2017 Festival:
Sandrine Revel is a prolific French creator of graphic novels. She has published more than ten graphic novels in France, as well as a successful line of children's comics. She's won an award for her work for young readers at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, and the French Artémisia award, which recognizes female comics creators. Sandrine is coming to TCAF for a Canadian tour of Glenn Gould, A Life Off-Tempo from NBM Publishing.
Rick Geary is the author of the famed Treasury of Murder series, which is now up to 18 volumes. His work has appeared in the National Lampoon, Heavy Metal, Dark Horse Comics, MAD, Spy, Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, and American Libraries. His children's comic Society of Horrors ran in Disney Adventures magazine from 1999 to 2006. He is attending TCAF 2017 in support of his latest collection from NBM Publishing, A Treasury of XX Century Murder Compendium I.
Metaphrog is the Franco-Scottish duo of Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers. Their Louis series has received critical acclaim and multiple award nominations, including three Eisner Awards. They are the winners of The Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards 2016 for Best Visual Artist. Metaphrog are attending TCAF to present The Little Mermaid from Papercutz, NBM Publishing's all-ages line of comics for kids!
Staff and representatives from NBM Publishing will also be on hand at TCAF 2017, including co-founder Terry Nantier.
TCAF 2017 will also play host to a number of great focus programmes this year, including:
The 10th Anniversary of Toronto's own Koyama Press
The 25th Anniversary of Image Comics
Several excellent gallery and other special presentations highlighting German, Italian, Japanese, UK, and Canadian & American Comics Creators
Two robust streams of programming for both Kids and Young Adults!
Information about these programmes will be unveiled throughout February and into early March.
There are more than 400 Canadian and International cartoonists participating in the 2017 Festival, and many more wonderful Featured Guests to be announced!
The details of returning programs including the CSSC-SCEBD Academic Conference, Library & Educator Day, Word Balloon Academy, Comics X Games, and more will be announced through February and March. Visit TCAF online for up-to-the-minute updates.
Website: www.torontocomics.com
Twitter: @Torontocomics
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TorontoComics
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Please include in your listings. The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2017, Saturday May 13, 9am-5pm, and Sunday May 14, 10am-5pm, @ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street. Attendance is FREE to the public. Select guest bios and images are available upon request. Please send all inquiries to [email protected].
SPONSORS & PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival would not be possible without the assistance of our sponsors and partners, including presenting sponsor Toronto Public Library and primary sponsor The Beguiling Books & Art.
TCAF is produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.
We would also like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $157 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 157 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
TCAF would like to thank Conundrum Press, Drawn & Quarterly, Fantagraphics Books, First Second Books, NBM Publishing, Penguin Random House Canada, and the Consulate General of France in Toronto for the support of the artists and programmes mentioned in this announcement.
Sponsorship opportunities for TCAF 2017 are still available, please contact us at: [email protected] for more info.
