Joanna Concejo, a major figure in contemporary illustration, reveals a world where literature and art meet. This time, the artist has illustrated Luis Sepúlveda’s The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2025, Tishina publishing house) with nearly 80 original drawings.

The Polish Institute Brussels and the Quartier Libre bookstore are organizing a meeting with the artist — a wonderful opportunity to discover her work, ask questions and get copies signed.

Joanna Concejo’s work is distinguished by its sensitive graphic language and poetic, timeless atmosphere. Through delicate images, often bordering on memory and dream, she explores themes of childhood, silence and deep emotion. Her illustrations, frequently compared to old photographs, create worlds of rare emotional intensity. As both author and illustrator, she is particularly known for Mr. Nobody (2008), praised by critics for the strength and originality of its visual universe. She has illustrated numerous books published in France and abroad, working with publishing houses such as L’Atelier du Poisson Soluble, Casterman, Format and Topipittori, as well as with leading writers including Olga Tokarczuk.

In 2021, she received the Grand Prix de l’Illustration for Senegal (text by Artur Scriabin), a book widely praised by critics. Her books have been translated and distributed in many countries and are regularly included in major literary and illustration prize selections, including the Prix Sorcières.

Luis Sepúlveda, Joanna Concejo
The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
Tishina Editions, 2025

For the millions of readers who have read this novel by Luis Sepúlveda, what lingers in memory is a perfectly told story. It follows Antonio José Bolívar Proaño, an old man hardened by the dangers of the jungle, a hesitant reader on account of his age, yet a passionate one. Until the stupidity of a few gringos forces him to put his books aside and, reluctantly, go hunting for a wild beast roaming near the village.

When Joanna Concejo read this novel, she was left with a vivid impression of jungle, river, and rain clinging to her skin and soul. On this intensely green and soaked canvas, she recreates a constellation of bodies and objects, books and crabs, a blue raincoat and calloused hands, a mayor so huge and crude that he cannot fit inside the frame. These are visions she renders in coloured pencil with astonishing precision. She completes them with the captured gaze of a wild beast, glimpsed here and there, revealing far more love and compassion than can be found among the humans wandering through this jungle…

Quartier Libre – the book place

Quartier Libre is a new-generation independent Brussels bookstore, founded in 2019, that reimagines the bookshop tradition as an open, multidisciplinary space deeply rooted in the city. Conceived as a “bookstore 4.0,” it connects the worlds of books, reading and writing with contemporary technologies, digital tools, on-site printing and collaborative practices. As a social and cooperative enterprise, Quartier Libre promotes bibliodiversity, openness to the world and the essential role of culture in contemporary society. It positions itself as a true ecosystem of the book, hosting meetings, creative projects, experiments and artistic collaborations, while also integrating strong eco-responsible commitments. Located in the heart of Brussels, Quartier Libre aims to be,at the same time,  a place for cultural dissemination, a space for reflection and a laboratory of ideas, combining the richness of the traditional book with the challenges and tools of our time.

MEETING + BOOK SIGNING
Saturday, 11 April 2026
from 4 to 6 pm

Quartier Libre bookstore
Chau. d’Alsemberg 374
1180 Uccle
⚠️ REGISTRATION REQUIRED ⚠️
more info