ELCAF FORTNIGHT!
Today at Broken Frontier we’re delighted to launch our annual coverage of the East London Comics and Arts Festival (ELCAF) with two weeks of reviews, interviews, features and creator commentaries ready for your enjoyment. If you’re planning on visiting the festival between June 7th and 9th then make sure to keep looking at Broken Frontier between now and then for recommendations of top comics and illustration, and the chance to read about exhibitors’ work in their own words. Get that ELCAF wishlist started because there’s some amazing work debuting this year and you don’t want to miss any of it!
ELCAF became part of the comics calendar seven years ago as a one-day event at a packed Village Underground (you can revisit that day in the video below).
After a number of venues in the ensuing years ELCAF settled into its regular home at the Round Chapel in 2016 where it’s remained since. If 2019 is your first visit then check out the short video below to give you an idea of what you can expect this year.
We’re delighted once again to be festival partners this year and, for the fifth year in a row, I’ll be chairing a panel on the Saturday afternoon. This year’s Broken Frontier Panel will be looking at ‘Taking New Creators to New Audiences‘ with advice about raising your profile as artists and discussions on how we can continue to push the form into new arenas. Joining me on the panel will be Comics Laureate Hannah Berry, Avery Hill’s Katriona Chapman, and two Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch‘ artists Jayde Perkin and Aleesha Nandhra. We’re looking forward to seeing you on Saturday 8th at 5pm and I’ll also be taking part in the Springboard Meetings on the Friday.
ELCAF looks to “introduce and celebrate both small press publications and the dynamic community of individual artists and collectives that are pushing the boundaries of comics and illustration to a growing public” and is always a wonderful showcase for homegrown and international talent. This year we’re particularly excited that so many of our ‘Six to Watch’ creators will be exhibiting including Olivia Sualdea (at her first event!), Joe Stone, Abs Bailey/Barbawk, Aleesha Nandhra, Peony Gent, Andy Barron and Jayde Perkin.
And for that latter artist it’s going to be a festival to remember! Jayde Perkin, of course, won last year’s ELCAF x WeTransfer Prize and her book I’m Not Ready debuts at ELCAF. It’s one of the finest examples of graphic memoir it’s ever been my privilege to read and it should be at the very top of your must-buy lists. In addition to being on our Broken Frontier panel Jayde will also be talking about ‘Comics as Graphic Medicine‘ on the Saturday and you can see her art adorning the official ELCAF beer. Peony Gent will also be part of the festival programme, co-running the ‘Panel to Page‘ workshop with Mhairi Braden on the Friday.
Bookmark our ELCAF Fortnight 2019 tag to keep checking in for new articles over the next couple of weeks. We can’t wait to start sharing some of the amazing work we have for you as we approach ELCAF and we’re looking forward to interacting with as many of you as possible over June 7th-9th!
Catch up on all our ELCAF Fortnight articles to date here. ELCAF runs from June 7th-9th. Full details on the ELCAF site here and you can also follow the festival on Twitter here.
