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In Pictures: European Graphic Novels: Drawing Untold Stories at the British Library

By John Freeman on October 17, 2018

European Graphic Novels: Drawing Untold Stories - 16th October 2018

Photo © Dean Simons

Following up on their appearance at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Czech artists Tomáš Kučerovský and Toy_Box, two of the authors of the collective project We’re Still at War, were joined at the British Library in London last night by German-American author and illustrator Nora Krug (Heimat) for a panel titled “European Graphic Novels: Drawing Untold Stories“, chaired by Paul Gravett.

Photo © Dean Simons

Graphic novels are proving themselves the unlikely arena for European artists and writers to come to confront difficult and untold 20th-century experiences. The three creators outlined what drew them to tell personal and collective stories in graphic form.

Toy_Box. Photo © Dean Simons

Tomáš Kučerovský . Photo © Dean Simons

We’re Still At War sold more than 13,000 copies in the original Czech edition. The book features documentary comics in the style of Art Spiegelman’s Maus, combining oral history with high artistry and contains 13 testimonies by people who experienced a totalitarian regime, either Nazi rule or communism.

Nora Krug. Photo © Dean Simons

Photo © Dean Simons

Heimat by Nora Krug is a powerful and deeply affecting graphic memoir that explores identity, guilt and the meaning of home for a post-war German. Nora documents her journey investigating the lives of her family members under the Nazi regime, visually charting her way back to a country still tainted by war.

Photo © Dean Simons

The event was run in collaboration with the Czech Centre London and Karolinum Press, supported by CzechLit – Czech Literary Centre, a section of the Moravian Library. Presented in partnership with EUNIC and the European Writers’ Tour.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.