Legendary cartoonist Dave Coverly, Palestinian artist Malak Mattar, Enola Holmes comics illustrator Lucie Arnoux, and The New Yorker’s Will McPhail are coming to Galway Cartoon Festival 2024.
The city’s annual celebration of the art of cartooning returns from Friday 4 to Wednesday 9 October. Also attending and exhibiting will be European Cartoon of the Year 2023 winner Ben Jennings; leading Northern Irish cartoonist, Dean Patterson; Disney/Marvel/Netflix artist, Joey Mason; and special guest, Kerry cartoonist and illustrator Ciaraíoch.
Driven by themes of Beasts, Women in Technology, and General Mayhem, and filled with drawing, discussion, workshops, exhibitions, and talks, the 8th Galway Cartoon Festival will be the most exciting, expansive, and ambitious yet!
Since creating ‘Speed Bump’ in 1994, Dave Coverly’s celebrated gag cartoon has been syndicated in The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and won Best Panel from the National Cartoonists Society four times. Coverly’s work will be exhibited at PorterShed a Dó, Market Street, where he will also give a public talk, ‘How To Be A World Famous Cartoonist’ (Sat 6 Oct, 2pm).
From Gaza, Malak Mattar’s work is both affected by, and a response to, the Israeli occupation. She has come to international attention for her astonishing greyscale painting, No Words, her deeply personal response to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Her work will be exhibited in the Town Hall Theatre and Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop. She will also take part in a public interview in Charlie Byrnes’ (Tues 8 Oct, 7.30pm).
French illustrator Lucie Arnoux, best known as an artist on the Enola Holmes comics series, and for her graphic-novel autobiography, Je Ne Sais Quoi, will hold two comic strip workshops, ‘The Comic Book In Practice’ (Áras na nGael, Fri 4 Oct, 1pm and 3pm) and give a public interview (PorterShed a Dó, Sat 5 Oct, 3pm).
Ben Jennings’ (The Guardian, The i Newspaper) ‘Snowflake’s Progress’ exhibition will have its first public showing outside London, when displayed at An Taibhdhearc for Galway Cartoon Festival. Inspired by William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, it is an unflinching, yet hilarious, dissection of Britain after 14 years of Tory government. The inspirations behind it for will be discussed in a public interview, ‘Snowflake Under The Microscope’ (PorterShed a Dó, Sun 6 Oct, 4pm), with Harry Burton, cartoonist with The Irish Examiner.
Another public interview highlight will be ‘An Englishman in The New Yorker’ with The New Yorker’s award-winning cartoonist, Will McPhail (PorterShed a Dó, Sat 5 Oct at 4.30pm).
Each year, Galway Cartoon Festival showcases an artist who has made a significant contribution to cartooning in Ireland, so 2024’s solo exhibition, in the Town Hall Theatre foyer, will feature Northern Ireland’s Dean Patterson, whose work appears in Private Eye and The Phoenix.
An American’s view of Galway will come via Joey Mason and the launch of his book, Quay Street Sketches (Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Sat 5 Oct, 6pm), inspired by stays in Galway in 2022 and 2023. He will hold a residency and exhibition in Áras Éanna, Inis OÍrr, as part of the Festival.
Festival goers will be able to enjoy work by multiple cartoonists with the group exhibitions Beasts, General Mayhem (both PorterShed a Dó), and Women in Technology (Town Hall Theatre), the latter in collaboration with Galway Science and Technology Festival and the Insight Centre for Data Analytics.
PorterShed a Dó will also host the panel discussions ‘Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Making Graphic Novels – But Were Afraid To Ask (Sat 5 Oct, 2pm), featuring Helen Mullane (Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen, Painted, Groupies) and ‘Speech Bubble’, with Dave Coverly, Will McPhail, and others (Sun 6 Oct, 5pm).
There will be the Irish language events ‘Can You Speak Doodle?’ where everyone will try to do cartoons as Gaeilge; the ‘Gaillimh Abú’ art trail; and ‘Tarraing É I nGaeilge’, the annual show of cartoons in our native tongue (An Taibhdhearc and Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr).
Irish cartoonists will, as ever, be proudly represented at Galway Cartoon Festival, with work by such leading figures as Tom Mathews, Ciaraíoch, Mick O’Hara (co-creator of Zig and Zag and Podge and Rodge), Graeme Keyes, and Jim Cogan on display.
Admission is free to all events, but donations are welcome. For more see galwaycartoonfestival.ie. Books from some of the Festival cartoonists will be available in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop and can be signed by the authors.
