As in previous years, TCAF will feature a popular manga creator. 2019 featured horror cartoonist Junji Ito and 2018 featured Inio Asano. 2020’s guest will be Witch Hat Atelier Author KAMOME SHIRAHAMA. Shirahama is also widely known for her work on popular Marvel and DC Comics series including Wonder Woman, Star Wars, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, and Doctor Strange among many others. This will be a great opportunity for both manga and western comics fans to meet a spectacular creator. See the press release below for full details.
Recent controversy over the Toronto Public Library allowing an anti LGBTQ+ speaker to hold a talk within the library caused concern among the community about holding the event there. TCAF organizers released a statement addressing the controversy and how this is likely to be the last year TCAF will be hosted at the library due to this and other logistical reasons. So you wont want to miss the last event at the venue which helped TCAF flourish into the top tier convention that it is.
Though TPL has been an important and supportive partner to TCAF for the last 10 years, this current issue, other recent TPL policy decisions which effectively limit our ability to offer programming for kids, and the simple fact that our attendance has been nearing capacity for Toronto Reference Library for the last few years, led us to investigate potential venue changes for 2020. But moving the festival is both financially and logistically unfeasible given the tight timelines and budgets for May 2020. TCAF requires nearly 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, and in a city that is growing ever-more-unaffordable that space simply couldn’t be found for the next edition of the Festival. We are continuing to look at various possibilities for 2021 and beyond.
Toronto Public Library and The Beguiling present
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2020
Saturday May 9th, 9am-5pm, and Sunday May 10th, 10am-5pm
@ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, Canada
@ The Concert Hall, 888 Yonge Street, Toronto, Canada
Free To Attend | www.torontocomics.com
TCAF, The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is thrilled to announce that acclaimed Japanese manga author Kamome Shirahama, creator of the series Witch Hat Atelier, will participate in the 2020 Festival as a Featured Guest. In addition to the hit manga series, published by Kodansha Comics, Shirahama is also widely known for her work on popular Marvel and DC Comics series including Wonder Woman, Star Wars, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, and Doctor Strange among many others. She will attend TCAF with a robust participation in the festival, including the English-language debut of Witch Hat Atelier Volume 6.
“Put simply, Kamome Shirahama’s art is impeccable,” said TCAF Artistic Director Christopher Butcher. “It’s no wonder that Shirahama-sensei became familiar to North American fans through her superhero comics work long before her manga was translated into English. That said, the Witch Hat Atelier manga series is such incredibly charming, deeply resonant work about the magic of art and illustration, and it’s found very deserved success amongst readers of all ages in both Japan and North America. We’re so lucky to have her as a part of TCAF this year!”
While Kamome Shirahama’s full schedule for TCAF is yet to be revealed, fans can expect a live-drawing session, a feature interview, autograph sessions, and more. TCAF has also partnered with Kodansha Comics and the author to present a gallery showing of Shirahama-sensei’s work, to be exhibited at and in partnership with The Japan Foundation Toronto, for the month of May! Details on dates, times, and availability will be announced mid-March.
Kamome Shirahama’s work is available for purchase now at Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop, located in Toronto Reference Library, and at the Festival’s Premiere Sponsor and official bookseller The Beguiling Books & Art, 319 College Street. Books will also be available at multiple booths at TCAF itself.
TCAF would like to thank Kodansha Comics for their support in helping to bring Kamome Shirahama to North America.
Stay In Touch!
Kamome Shirahama will join more than 350 exhibiting creators and publishers for The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2019, with many more guests still to be announced! Visit TCAF online for up-to-the-minute updates!
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