lt has now become a tradition for the COMIC STRIP FESTIVAL to set up its tents in the Royal Parc of Brussels. The 2015 edition will take place from 4 until 6 September and will be hosting no fewer than 3 Polish authors: Krzysztof GAWRONKIEWICZ (Gawron), Paweł PŁÓCIENNIK (Szaweł) and Marzena SOWA. They will be showcasing their work at the EUNIC stand in the brand new international pavilion along with Frenchman Sylvain SAVOIA, author of MARZI. In addition, Marzena SOWA will be taking part in the conference What’s so different about Eastern European comics?

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
>>> Royal Parc of Brussels – see map
>>> Friday 4 September – 15:00>22:00
>>> Saturday 5 September – 10:00>22:00
       Conference What’s so different about Eastern European comics? at 15:00 (with Marzena SOWA)
       Worshop Travel impressions with GAWRON at 20:00
>>> Sunday 6 September – 10:00>18:00
       Workshop Meet Pinki, the first Polish hippie and hipster by SZAWEŁ at 13:00
>>> Free entrance

Krzysztof GAWRONKIEWICZ (who goes by the name of Gawron) is an illustrator, painter and the author of comic books. He studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. His most well-known works are the following: Mikropolis, Przebiegłe dochodzenie Ottona i Watsona (The Adventures of Otto and Watson) and Achtung Zelig. In 2000, the strip Krzesło w piekle (an extract from the album Mikropolis) was awarded the Grand Prix at the International Comic Festival in Łódź. In 2003, the album Esencja, from the series Przebiegłe dochodzenie Ottona i Watsona received first prize at the European Comic Festival, which is organised by Glenat and ARTE. With Marzena SOWA, he published The Warsaw Uprisising (Aire Libre) in 2014, a work which was recently promoted by the Polish Institute.
https://gawronkiewicz.carbonmade.com

Paweł PŁÓCIENNIK (who goes by the pseudonym of Szaweł) is the author of comic books and a painter who is a graduate of the Warsaw Conservatory of Fine Arts. His characters are straight out of his real environment, as is his album, Pinki, in which he tells of the adventures of Krzysztof ‘Pinki’ Brandt, the first Polish hippie.
https://www.facebook.com/plociennikart

The Polish comic strip writer Marzena SOWA has lived abroad since 2001. Her work includes, in particular, the famous (and autobiographical) series Marzi, illustrated by Sylvain SAVOIA, which takes the reader on a journey to Poland in the 1980’s, bringing her face to face with the reality which she sees through a child’s eyes. With GAWRON, she published The Warsaw Uprising (Aire Libre) in 2014, which the Polish Institute promoted recently.

Sylvain SAVOIA is a French illustrator who was trained in Brussels. He works with various comic book writers, notably Jean-David MORVAN, with whom he published the series Nomad and Al Togo, and Marzena SOWA, for whom he drew the series Marzi. He recently brought out the excellent album The Forgotten Slaves of Tromelin (Aire Libre).

Comic Strip Festival
Since 2009, the Comic Strip Festival has been the place in Brussels to celebrate the comic in all its forms, welcoming more than 100,000 people each year. Children and adults, amateurs or specialists, there’s something for everyone in the multitude of activities on offer.
For the 2015 edition, Brussels is gearing up for a colourful weekend from 4 until 6 September, with its now renowned Festival BD: the Parc de Bruxelles will be housing the Comic Museums, dozens of exhibitions, booksellers, comic book and desktop-publishing dealers, conferences, workshops and hundreds of authors signing their works! However, the Comic Festival is also a night-time event in the Parc de Bruxelles, the Balloon’s Day Parade, the Tintin Rally Magazine, guided tours, comic exhibitions and activities all over the city.

EUNIC Brussels
EUNIC, an abbreviation of ‘European Union National Institutes for Culture’, is a network of National Institutes for Culture from the Member States of the European Union, which aims to contribute to cultural diversity inside and outside of the EU and to strengthen cultural dialogue and exchange. EUNIC Brussels is part of a network of over 90 EUNIC clusters present on all continents.
The EUNIC stand during the Comic Strip Festival is an event organised by the cultural institutes and official representations of the Basque Country, Estonia, France, Hungary, Poland an Romania.