From Galway Bay to Lakes International – The British Isles Comic Festivals
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The first week of October will be comics paradise in the British Isles from Galway, Ireland to Kendal, England.
The Galway Cartoon Festival returns for its 10th annual celebration of laughs and satire.
This is Galway has details from The Galway Cartoon Festival press release:
Galway Cartoon Festival will mark its 10th anniversary this October and this year’s theme will be ‘Having a Laugh’. What’s in store will be unveiled at the programme launch in Kombu, Druid Lane, Galway City centre, on Tuesday 8th September from 5pm to 7pm.
Coming to the Festival is the brilliant Glenn Marshall of Private Eye, who will recreate the Wooden Horse of Troy; Galway’s favourite Guardian stalwart Martin Rowson returns with one of his great stand-up performances; and there will be expert drawing workshops for adults and children.
This 10th festival is also bringing guests from Belgium, Europe’s spiritual home of comic art. The European Cartoon Centre will present a history of Belgian art told through cartoons, while leading French satirist Nicolas Vadot – who contributed to the very first Galway Cartoon Festival poster design – will talk about his career in television, animation, and editorial cartooning.
A special celebratory exhibition at the Galway City Museum is set to look back over the highlights of the first ten years, as the Festival grew from just a single exhibition into the feast of activities, exhibitions, and extraordinary guests it is today – the only event of its kind in Ireland.
As well as the usual main exhibition that brings top new cartoons from around the world to Galway, there will be a new ‘Bookshop Trail’ to feature the work of invited artists – among them Mick O’Hara of Zig and Zag, who recently returned to cartooning life.
An exhibition and panel discussion will mark the passing of The Phoenix, the magazine that was the home of satire in Ireland for over 40 years. Finally, the featured Irish artist this year will be Fergus Boylan, creator of the hit ‘Catholics and Protestants’ card game!
Alongside all this, there will be cartooning coffee mornings, the Freedom Wall, Irish language workshops, a dedicated exhibition of cartoons as Gaeilge, games, films, and the now-notorious annual trip to Inis Oírr. Come along and join in the good times!
Happening at the same time across the Irish Sea is The 2026 Lakes International Comic Art Festival.
Comic creators from around the world will gather in Kendal for a 3 day extravaganza.
John Freeman at downthetubes reports.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has published its full programme for this year’s weekend-long event in Kendal, Cumbria, 2nd to 4th October 2026, and the full lineup of guests and Comics Marketplace creators and publishers has been announced.
You can view all the events on the Festival’s website at licaf.co.uk, view the programme online here on Issuu, or download a PDF version here.
Major events at this year’s annual Festival include its traditional Opening Night of Live Draws, Comic Challenges and comedy, ticketed separately from the Festival Pass, this year “Asterix vs TinTin” which again sees a battle between comic creators to prove their favourite internationally-acclaimed hero is better than the other; “An Audience with Bill Sienkiewicz”, an opportunity to find out more about the work of the amazing Marvel Comics artist; the “NCS 80th Anniversary Bash”, marking a special “birthday” for the National Cartoonists’ Society of America with an array of talent from its illustrious membership, including Bill Morrison, Luke McGarry, Gemma Correll, Jason Chatfield and Colleen Doran plus festival guests Bim, Petteri Tikkanen, Pieter de Poortere, Viz and Dagsson the “Giant Phoenix Comic Club” with two Phoenix Comic superstars, James Turner and Robert Deas – giving young audiences the opportunity to take part in LICAF’s first ever giant Phoenix Comic Club, enjoy free comics and find out more about one of the UK’s favourite weekly comics; “Frankly Speaking”, an audience with international comic artist Frank Quitely; “An Introduction to Poetry Comics” with Chrissy Williams whose book comes recommended by Alan Moore; Kate Charlesworth discusses her current work, future plans and aspirations for Scottish comics; Steve and Luke McGarry return to the Festival, dishing out their much appreciated comic mayhem; Gemma Plum, Francisco de la Mora,and Zara Slattery discuss their graphic novels exploring neurodiversity and disability, in a talk titled “Inspirational Comics on Neurodiversity & Disability”; and “Shining Through – Female Pioneers in Comics”, celebrates the unsung contributions of two cultural, pioneering women Mary Wollstonecraft and Stella Benson, with award-winning creatives Bryan and Mary Talbot, and Nina Six from Belgium.
But these are just a few of the amazing events lined up for another very packed weekend…
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