The Lakes International Comic Art Festival will be held in Bowness-on-Windermere this coming weekend, within the heart of the Lake District National Park, Friday 29th September to Sunday 1st October.
The weekend festival celebrates the amazing world of comic artists, creators and writers and brings together the biggest names in comics from across the world. Festival events will include live draws, interviews, presentations, workshops, exhibitions, book launches, signings, Little LICAF family activities and lots and lots of comics to discover.
The festival includes leading Manga artists from Japan, aliens, a superhero sock puppet theatre show, vampires, villains, comic surrealists, cosplay pets and a breadth of comics exploring global issues such as climate change and the biodiversity crisis.
This year’s exhibitions include a showcase of facsimile art of the very first Spider-Man story from Marvel’s Amazing Fantasy #15, shown for the first time in the UK; and the Collectives for Change exhibition exploring powerful voices from the world of Arab comics.
There’s plenty of free events for young comic fans to join in with, too, all at Windermere Jetty Museum, organised by “Little LICAF” – no booking required, aimed at the under 12s.
The festival will be creating a comic village with a free Lakeside Comics Marketplace, which has doubled in size from previous years, as well as using a host of other venues including The Old Laundry Theatre, The Windermere Jetty Museum, The Lake District Boat Club, The Comics Arts Bar and more.
The festival also sees the return of its popular ‘Windows Trail’ involving businesses from across the town and featuring 25 windows bursting with art and creativity. This year, the trail brings an exciting addition. In partnership with the British Council, the festival is proud to present ‘From Ink to Action’, a project featuring twelve exceptionally talented creators from the Middle East and North Africa with a focus on environmental issues.
This year over 200 creators, guests and exhibitors will be arriving in the Lake District from 22 countries. Comic artists and creators from the UK, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, the US and beyond will be bringing the wonderful world of comics to the shore of Lake Windermere.
Julie Tait, Festival Director said: “The festival has oodles of family-friendly activities and promises a weekend of wonderful events for all ages. This is the perfect event for comic fans but also those who are new to the wonderful world of comics.
“Thank you to the Arts Council England and all of our festival partners and supporters.”
• Festival passes are still available online and many activities are free. The full guest list and events programme is available at comicartfestival.com
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