Students and staff at the University of Strasbourg are enjoying the weird worlds of The Guardian and New Scientist cartoonist Tom Gauld this summer.

“La Revanche des Bibliothécaires” (“The Revenge of the Librarians”), the exhibition title taken from his book, is being exhibited over ten different libraries at the University, running until 31st October 2024, forms just part of the programming of this year’s Festival Central Vapeur, which ends on 19th May.

Every Sunday, the award-winning Tom Gauld illuminates the literary section of The Guardian with his humour, but since last month, it is in the heart of the University of Strasbourg that he comes to set his keen eye. Anguished authors, forgotten books and whispering robots: his offbeat installations are deployed in around ten university libraries and throughout the Studium, bringing his work into dialogue with the collections of the campus libraries.

Centred around illustration, the project aims to give an astonishing and offbeat image of the profession of librarian and to invest libraries in a new way by offering a fun participatory experience and a scenographic journey around the work of Tom Gauld and his book, Revenge of the Librarians.

The entire event, comprising fake books, real books, prints, cartoons, drawings, comics, signs, jetpacks, and robots, is produced by Editions 2024, in partnership with the Festival Central Vapeur and the printing works of the internal logistics affairs department of the University of Strasbourg. 

In separate news, Tom’s children’s book, The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess out now as a paperback from Templar Books in the UK.

• There’s more information here in French on the University of Strasbourg website

• Tom Gauld is online at tomgauld.com | Trail Tom Gauld on Tumblr

• Revenge of the Librarians, published in 2022, is available here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN 978-1838858216

Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist’s signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones.

Some particularly favoured targets include the pretentious procrastinating novelist, the commercial mercenary of the dispassionate editor, the wilful obscurantism of the vainglorious poet. Quake in the presence of the stack of bedside books as it grows taller! Gnash your teeth at the ever-moving deadline that the writer never meets! Quail before the critic’s incisive dissection of the manuscript! And most importantly, seethe with envy at the paragon of creative productivity!

Revenge of the Librarians contains even more murders, drubbings and castigations than The Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, Baking For Kafka or any other collections of mordant scribblings by the inimitably excellent Gauld.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions

Tags: downthetubes News, Exhibition News, Festival Central Vapeur, Humour Comics, Tom Gauld, University of Strasbourg