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Marek Rubec will be the guest at 46th International Comic Festival Angouleme, France

Jarmil is one of the newest Centrala’s books and a very touching picture of the small town in Czech Republic.

Saturday Jan 26th

10.00-11.00 Forum du Nouveau Monde

Language: English translate to French.

Marek’s visit is supported by Czech Literary Centre and Moravian Library

The Blood Anthology illustrates the range of meanings that blood bears, from its mythological aspect (the magical powers attributed to menstrual blood), through the symbolism of heredity – the inevitable genealogical continuity, through revenge and violence, to strong connotations with physical pain. Blood also touches upon various layers in terms of art, not limiting itself to comics. Inside the anthology, we will find references to Frans Masereel’s and Lynd Ward’s woodcut pre-comics; subtle portraits; the simplicity of cartoon art; photomontage and psychedelic references to science-fiction. 

The world is falling apart before our consumption-closed eyes, even in a small Czech town. Supermarket, skateboard, brews, blazin’, hamburgers, tatoos, pizza, selfie. How can we live without this? Jarmil won’t tell you the answer.
Jarmil is fast poetry and fast day-to-day life, in a hurry to survive.
Jarmil is a cocktail of waiting around and racing around.
Now we only remember the hangovers.

Marek Rubec is illustrator and comic artist based in the Czech Republic.
In 2016, he was a resident at the Swedish Comics Assotiation in Malmö.
In 2017, he won first prize at the Prague Frame Festival. He has published several short comics with Czech and European magazines and publishing houses.
He works and lives in Litoměřice, about 40 miles northeast of Prague.

The houseboat of a seafood-loving dentist hides a secret. A religious woman working in an office would like to be a choir conductor. A night guard of a department store takes care of her disabled little brother. A cultured cleaner brews tea in the cleaner’s cupboard. Everything is set in a gigantic city, its lights and shadows. The metropolis suffocates the little ones with its mass.

Jenny Haniver, a silent comic in black-and-white, is about powers greater than the individual. The unnamed characters seem to drift along even though their decisions seemconcious. There is no great plan, just a series of events. Do you have to dance? Yes. No. Have to walk, though.

Our titles

Frame Festival, Prague

We all started out with our own confused but creative view of the world. For many of us, these views hardened into actual ‘beliefs’. This book is a collection of some of these childhood imaginings; conceived by children but remembered by adults. These idiosyncratic histories inspired by our own limited life experiences are more than just a shared belief in Father Christmas.
As children we are magicians, painters, writers, dancers, storytellers, singers, masters of play and accomplished all-round make-believers. We create parallel worlds and people; our imaginations are unfettered by logic. As adults we segregate and compartmentalize almost everything, including art and artists. We relegate some and elevate others. Ultimately, we delegate the job of creativity to those whom we believe do it better.
In these times when new and unexpected things divide us, where life leaves little room for imagination, these beliefs can remind us of our common roots and of how creative we used to be.
Shared by many generous adults, drawn by Kamil Macejko and collected by Rachel Karafistan.

Over 200 works were received for Wake Up competition during 1st Prague Comics Art Festival „Frame”. The anthology includes 96 works by artists from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK, USA

Authors:

Tom Abbosh, Chris Dean
Adam Święcicki
Galkina Alyona
Razvan Anghelache
Szilagyi Aniko
Monika Bąkowska
Joris Bas-Backer
Alan Bay
Felipe Kolb Bernardes, Julia Nascimento
Alexandra Bogucka
Amanda Borg
Nikodem Cabała
B. Carrot
Robson da Silva Cavalcante
Miglė Ceinorytė
Agnieszka Cioch
Giulio Cosimi
Arinda Craciun
Kateřina Čupová
Piotr Dąbrowski
Janne Marie Dauer
Shamisa Debroey
Katarzyna dworaczyk
Lucie Dynterová
Jarosław Ejsymont
Robert Eman
Alejandra Espino
Jeroen Funke
Valentine Gallardo
Hatiye Garip
Kaśka Gazdówna
Kirsten Carina Geisser
Nenko Genov, Piotr Rosner
Harukichi
Natália Ižáková
Clara Jetsmark
Štěpánka Jislová
Michael Jordan
Matej Jurkáček
Daria Kalitskaya
David Kerr
Valentin Krayl
Nicolas Krizan
Zlatko Krstevski
Hugo Boylan & Rapha Lobosco
Till Lukat
Maia Matches
Agnieszka Majchrowicz
Julia Inés Mamone
Michael Mangan
Débora Martins
Sim Mau
Dan Mazur
Iveta Merglová
David Miklos
Bojan Milojević
Søren Mosdal
Tomáš Motal
Bart Nijstad
Ylva Oknelid
Cathrin Peterslund
Agnieszka Piksa
Łukasz Piotrkowicz, Krzysztof Budziejewski
Saskia van der Post
Nina Prader
Tomáš Prokůpek (writer), Václav Šlajch (artist)
Nadia Prorokova
Roberta Railaitė
Ana Ribeiro
Alessandro Ripane
Florian Ronget
Florian Ronget
Marek Rubec
Jennifer van de Sandt
Justine Sarlat
Leslie Saurus
Brandon Scott
Zuzana Šebelová
Liliana Serafin
Beata Sosnowska
Johannes Stahl
Jens K Styve
Franz Suess
Monika Svobodová
Ester Tajrychová
Gabriela Toma
Reda Tomingas
Marek Turek
Juste Urbonaviciute
Emiliyan Valchev Valev, Stanimir Valchev Valev
Sean Michael Wilson, Michiru Morikawa
Mateusz Wiśniewski, Krzysztof Chalik
Ender Yıldızhan
Farnaz Zare
Bart Zijlstra

Why not visit Centrala table during International Stockholm Comics Festival 2017
Find our table Sat & Sun main market area of the Festival

Gosia and Mikołaj signing their two books, Fertility and Elephant on the Moon
May 20th, Saturday 1-2PM and 3-4PM
May 21st, Sunday 1-2PM and 3-4PM

We also recommend presentation about Centrala publishing activity and Gosia and Mikołaj works
May 20th, Saturday 4.20-5 PM on main stage

Our visit at International Stockholm Comics Festival was supported by Polska Institutet Stockholm

Gosia Herba studied history of art. For more than eight years, she has worked as an illustrator. She has worked with La Nación, The Washington Post, Virginia Quarterly Review, Monocle and Penguin Random House. She does illustrations for the press, and designs posters and covers for books and CDs. Recently she has started to do illustrations for children.

Mikołaj Pasiński is interested in the study of culture. He works in graphic design and multimedia.

Gosia Herba and Mikołaj Pasiński are authors of a comic for adults entitled Fertitlity and childer book Elephant on the Moon.

About Fertilty:
It is believed that the rennet of a hare, taken with food, promotes the conception of male offspring. A few days before their big wedding, four village girls set out on an expedition to trap a wild hare. Little do they know about severe consequences their actions will have.
For mature readers only

About Elephant on the Moon

In a small town there lives a lady astronomer. Every evening she looks at the moon through her telescope. She knows it like the back of her own hand. Even in her sleep she can name all the mountains, the craters and the oceans of the silvery globe. One night she makes an amazing discovery. Can it be that there’s an elephant living on the moon? The members of the Moon Society refuse to believe her.
Elephant on the Moon is a richly illustrated tale of courage, passion and determination. Although it is directed mainly at younger readers, it refers to serious events. Sir Paul Neal in the seventeenth century – one of the astronomers of the Royal Society – is supposed to have been the first to observe an elephant on the moon. At the time, his discovery provoked much confusion and fired the imaginations of many writers. Thanks to Samuel Butler’s satirical account, the story reached France. Fontaine himself wrote a tale about it – “Un animal dans la lune.” Almost 350 years later Gosia Herba and Mikołaj Pasiński have come back to this story of the moon, and out of it they have spun a new tale full of adventure.

Sorina Vazelina’s  fun and poignant cartoons about ageing makes for compelling reading. She is a talented artist taking on very serious issues and subjects with a wonderfully quirky yet thoughtful approach. Very much worth thumbing through.

Ginanne Brownell Mitic, arts journalist and founder of insidefullofcolor.com, a website focused on arts and culture in central and eastern Europe

It is a book that straddles many styles and approaches to communicating ideas and stories. Some moments appear like sketchbook watercolours and others like clean and intellectual New Yorker Magazine cartoons. The personality on display changes from story to story but retains that experimental edge throughout.

Antony Esmond,
downthetubes.net

We are here again!
Sat May 13, 9 AM – 5 PM
Sun May 14, 10 AM – 5 PM
Visit our table and grab signed copy of Erik the Red: King of Winter by Søren Mosdal who’s our guest during TCAF this year.

Søren’s trip to Canada was supported by DANISH ART FOUNDATION

Toronto Comic Art Festival www

Hi Londoners!
This Sunday is next edition one of our favourite event in capitol.

12.00-19.00

DIY Culture
Rich Mix London
35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road,
E1 6LA Londyn

DIY Cultures fair is back for its 5th year on Sunday 14th May to takeover all 4 floors of Rich Mix. DIY Cultures is an annual day festival exploring intersections of art and activism, running since 2013. The programme consists of a zine fair, exhibitions, workshops, contemporary craft, panel discussions, comic illustration, video art and digital animation exploring DIY practice. The event has established itself as a leading national forum for artists-run initiatives and alternative publishing. The event distinguishes itself by by its commitment to Black and people of colour empowerment and centralising marginalised histories and subcultures such as neurodiversity, diaspora stories, prisoner solidarity, radical mental health and Muslim communities under the War on terror.

This year’s event is bigger than ever with more than 90 stalls showcasing the best in independent publishing and stands as Rich Mix’s most-attended event of the year. The festival extends to a 4 week exhibition DIY Knowledge running from 3rd May until 2nd June in Lower Cafe Gallery. The curators have commissioned outdoor art, interactive animation and architectural collective Involve to make a communal table.

Facebook event

Danish author Søren Mosdal will be signing copies of his title Erik the Red: King of Winter on Monday May 15th, 6-7pm.

Erik the Red tells the story of Erik Torvaldsson, who in 982 left his home of Iceland (thanks to a feud with his neighbour) and established a colony in a land mass he dubbed Greenland (apparently to attract settlers). He ruled there as its “Paramount Chieftain” until his death in 1003. Mosdal’s style adds immensely to the take, reminiscient of the likes of Joann Sfar, Christophe Blain and Blutch.

Needless to say, with Søren passing through London we’re pleased as punch to have the opportunity to host a signing with him, in association with Centrala. Søren will be here on Monday May 15th, from 6-7pm, so come on down! If you can’t make it, but would like a reservation or a mail order, drop an email to info@goshlondon.com.

Beyond the seven toadstools and beyond the seven bugs there lived a brother and sister who were always hungry. Unlike Johnny, Maggie does not have a kids’ fascination with larvae. Not having that hobby, one day she steals some keys and opens a story that leads us to an oven, a cake, and a chopped off head.

ZAVKA: Illustrator, author of comics, and graphic artist. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Winner of the prize for the best graphic work in the competition at the Boomfest International Comic Festival in Russia in 2013, and winner of the “Golden Chicken” 2016 – the independent comic prize in the “Drawing” category for the comic Hungry Johnny and Greedy Maggie. She publishes her work in fanzines in Poland and abroad.

We hope the empty space hasn’t visited you yet.
But it’s possible that before it comes, it’s already been with you for ages.
Then, as it says itself, it’ll be with you always.

Empty space cannot be drowned in tears, you cannot pretend it is not there. You can only tame it.

A graphic novel for children and adults. A story of a girl experiencing a loss after the death of her cat.

Marianna Sztyma
Born 1973.
Painter and illustrator. Most of her work is in press illustration (including for Zwierciadło, Twój Styl, Press, Newsweek, and Wysokie Obcasy). She likes doing illustrations for children a lot. She draws comics and designs covers. She lives in a village in the mountains. When she’s not drawing, she’s stroking cats and dogs.

Anja Dahle Øverbye´s graphic novel Dog Days won the Norwegian Comic of the Year award in 2016. It is an impressive debut book that has drawn inspiration from North-Western Norway where she grew up. Dog days are a phenomenon taking place in late summer. According to folklore, the dog days are extremely hot, muck floats up to the surface of water, food goes bad and dogs may more easily go mad. It is at this time of year we meet Anne, who is mid-way between childhood and adolescence. The intensely stifling, sultry weather that summer affects her relationships with both her friends and family.

Her best friend Marielle wants to hang out with slightly older Carrie. When the two of them strike up a friendship, Anne is left out. She is too young to go to the youth club, and too restless to find anything else to do. Can she and Marielle become close friends again? And what is she willing to do to make that happen?

The images are sensitively portrayed in detailed pencil drawings and display keen insight into human nature. The scenery of Western Norway plays a central role in the story.

Anja Dahle Øverbye (1981) has studied at KIB, Bergen Art School, and has a bachelor in illustration and visual communication from UCA in England. She now lives in Oslo, where she works as a creator of comics and as an illustrator.