For a 39th year, the Capital comes alive with the 9th art during the Festival Québec BD (FQBD), presented from April 8 to 12. An unmissable spring event, the event once again offers a host of opportunities to celebrate comics and its artisans, but also its multiple artistic incarnations. Presented in nearly 25 locations including the Quebec International Book Fair and the Quebec Library network, the rich programming offers a flurry of activities for five days, with shows, workshops, events, exhibitions and meetings for readers of all ages.
The 39th FQBD at the Quebec International Book Fair Comic strips will have a great presence again this year at SILQ, with a crowd of comic artists to meet at the different publishers and three spaces dedicated to the FQBD, where more than 110 activities will be presented. With the numerous activities on the 9th art offered to visiting school groups during the week, the presence of the Manga Zone in the entrance hall, the creations of the FAB à Dessin in the Workshop of the Maison de la BD or the author meetings at the Studio Québec BD, it will not always be easy to make your choice among the programming offered.
Whether for children’s or adult comics, the public will have the chance to meet some 150 authors, screenwriters or illustrators, in the various kiosks or during FQBD activities. A sign of the current vitality of comics here, this number includes a majority of Quebecers, including comic artists Sophie Bédard, Jay Odjick, Jean-Paul Eid, Julien Paré-Sorel, Sophie Escabasse, Bach and Louis Rémillard. Around ten creators from France, Belgium and Spain will also be in town to encourage people to discover current comic strips. Note among these authors the French Étienne Davodeau, Philippe Pelaez and Alex-Imé, as well as the Belgians Tiffanie Vande Ghinste and Antoine Schiffers.
Comics on stage, with original shows True to form, the FQBD offers new encounters between comics and the stage, with original and exclusive shows. At the Gabrielle-Roy Library, the public will be able to participate in a music and drawing activity based on models with Traits de Jazz, presented with the Sketcheurs·es de Québec, and attend a brand new drawn tale, The Stories of Grandfather William, with Sylvain Vigneault and the very popular cartoonist Alex A. In addition to the traditional Karaoke Dessiné, which returns on Friday evenings at the Musée de la Civilization, the quiz game is reinvented at the Maison de laliterature, the Saturday evening, with the fun evening of Cases and Quizzes, in the company of the inimitable members of the E=Hergé2 team. An original collaboration between musical improvisation and comic strips is also seeing the light of day this year, on Sunday afternoon at the Palais Montcalm, with the show Cases improvisées: A comic strip that invents itself on stage.
The 9th art is on display at the FQBDD. Seventeen exhibitions are also accessible throughout the month of April, and sometimes even longer, in the city’s libraries, but also in certain other cultural places. Whether it is Bach: Slice of Life in Drawings (Gabrielle-Roy Library), Band of Researchers, Band of Researchers (Roger-Lemelin Library), The Careers of Comics (Paul-Aimé Paiement Library), Grands Traits (Moulin des Jésuites), or even The Word Juggling Machine (National Assembly of Quebec), the variety of proposals will undoubtedly please a wide audience.
In addition, the public will have the opportunity to enjoy author meetings, screenings and accompanied creative activities at the Gabrielle-Roy Library. Several members of the Heritage Houses network will also host workshops with professional cartoonists, as will the Les Autres Jours space, as well as the National Assembly of Quebec. A master class is also offered at the Maison de laliterature with author Étienne Davodeau. In short, there really is something for everyone during the Québec BD Festival!