Guests

Åsa Ekström [SWE]

Åsa Ekström, born 1983, is a Swedish mangaka and illustrator, educated at the comics school in Malmö. She was one of the first to draw Swedish manga and made a breakthrough in the 00s with Tokyo by Night, Stall Norrsken, and Sayonara September. She has also illustrated youth books, including the book series Drakriddare written by Jo Salmson. Since 2011, Åsa has lived in Tokyo, where she is busy exploring Japan's multifaceted culture and telling about it in comics form. To date, it has resulted in seven Japanese books that have sold over 270,000 copies. Three parts have appeared in Swedish titled Mitt liv i Japan (= My life in Japan).

Aisha Franz [GER]

German artist and writer Aisha Franz was born in Fürth as the daughter of Colombian-Chilean immigrants, and studied illustration at the School of Art and Design in Kassel between 2004 and 2010. She established herself as a voice of her own in Germany with very quirky, graphic, dreamlike but nevertheless narrative comics, first released via the indie publisher Rotopol press (which is also present at this year's comics festival) and her own label My Own Press. After that, Reprodukt launched her graphic novels Alien and Brigitte under der Perlenhort. She was soon picked up by Canadian-American publisher Drawn & Quarterly who published her Alien (under the title Earthling), Shit is real and most recently Work-Life-Balance. Aisha Franz's comics have attracted a lot of attention and she has in a short time become a big favorite on the international indie scene. In Sweden, we have seen her in the magazine Det grymma svärdet. This Spring, the publisher Lystring releases Work-Life-Balance as a Swedish edition. Franz lives and works in Berlin, where she is part of the comic collective The Treasure Fleet.

Bert Gradin [SWE]

Bert Gradin was born in 1962 in the countryside outside Sundsvall, Sweden, and ended up in Stockholm in the early 1980s where he worked with miscellaneous things until an artist’s career took off. Gradin drew a number of comics, including the character Zläm which appeared in the magazines Svenska Serier, Elixir and newspaper Dagens Nyheter, at the end together with Esbjörn Jorsäter. Gradin left cartooning behind him to switch to performing arts instead. In the mid-1980s, he helped start the award-winning Gycklargruppen, who combined circus and theater on stage. He has since performed on stage on three continents with performances for all ages. Today, Bert Gradin works as a psychiatric nurse, does theater and makes comics again. This year, he debuts as a book author with his comics autobiography Här ska plaskas at Epix publishing house, where he builds a narrative about his life as a clown.

Iris Hautaniemi [SWE]

Iris Hautaniemi (born 1998) is a cartoonist, artist and illustrator based in Stockholm. She has studied graphic design and illustration at Konstfack. Last year's debut graphic novel Ensam ung kvinna söker was critically acclaimed, and reportedly a new book is currently in production. Iris Hautaniemi has drawn this year's official poster image for the series festival, which ingeniously and congenially represents the edge and width of the festival and the motley mix of both guests and visitors.

Matilda Josephson [SWE] 

Matilda Josephson (born 1997 in Stockholm) is a cartoonist who has been published in the Swedish magazine Galago. She is educated at the comics school in Malmö and has worked at various grocery stores over the years, something she has used as stuff for her debut graphic novel Mjölk och människor (= Of milk and men), a witty and edgy but adorable depiction of all the ordinary and odd people who move around in a grocery store. Mjölk och människor has been praised everywhere, including newspaper literary sectios, morning television and social media.

Ditte Lindroth [SWE]

Ditte Lindroth, born in 1998, has studied animation at Stockholm's art college and many have read her series Lovesick, Läppglans and Ditte's diary, which you have been able to follow on Instagram, among other things. Flickvänsprovet, about Axel’s and Ditte's journey along the Trans-Siberian railway, is her first graphic novel, published by Kartago förlag.                                                            

Mikael Ross [GER]

Mikael Ross (born 1984) is a German artist and tailor. He was born in Munich but currently lives and works in Berlin. Ross was the first ever recipient of the scholarship for comic creation awarded by Berlin's cultural administration. His graphic novel Der Umfall is about the mentally disabled Noel whose world falls apart after his mother suffers a stroke and he is sent to a nursing home in the town of Neuerkerode. The comic won the Max und Moritz-preis for best German graphic novel of 2020. It has been published in the USA as The Thud and in Sweden by Galago as Fallet, and it has also been published in the France, Brazil, the Czech Republic and South Korea, among other countries.

Cecilia Vårhed [SWE]

Cecilia Vårhed was born in 1996 and lives in Årsta in Stockholm. She has studied at the comic school of in Malmö and at the art university Konstfack in Stockholm. Cecilia Vårhed has been extensively published in magazines such as Det grymma svärdet, Brand and Galago. She has also appeared in the American Fantagraphics comic anthology NOW. Her humor-realist debut book Fattigt skryt (= Poor bragging) was published last year and has been well received by critics and audiences alike.

Klara Wiksten [SWE]                  

With the critically acclaimed comic books Dagarna och Hjärnan darrar, Klara Wiksten (born 1981) has established herself as one of the most interesting and unanimously praised comic storytellers today. As a poet, Klara reached a small but captive audience with the poetry collection Sorgdikter from 2022. In the spring of 2024, Klara Wiksten is back with the graphic novel Mors dag(= Mother's Day), published by Galago.