On Saturday, June 18th & Sunday, June 19th, readers, writers, artists, publishers and fans of comix will converge at the Toronto Reference Library ( and nearby venues) to take part in the the FREE Toronto Comic Arts Festival (aka TCAF).
Among the talented people who will be at TCAF this year are a small number of comix professionals who have done (or researched) comic art using Jewish characters or themes, as well as a visiting Israeli cartoonist.
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Ben Kahn is the author of the graphic novel Heavenly Blues.
Fantagraphics Books is the publisher of Jewish Images in the Comics, Palestine, and Barracuda in the Attic.
First Second Books is the publisher of Klezmer : Tales of the Wild East, the Rabbi's Cat books, and the Resistance series.
Fredrik Strömberg, author of the book Jewish Images in the Comics, will be one of the panelists on the Nordic Bridges panel on Sunday afternoon (2:00-3:00 PM) in the Learning Centre.
Ido Yogev is an illustrator and cartoonist currently residing in Givatayim, Israel. His work has been published in the Haaretz newspaper.
Jonathan Baylis is the author of the So ... Buttons minicomics series. his Jewishness is evident in many of the stories in this comic, including "So ... My Dad Got Drafted" (in which Jonathan's father expresses his disdain for France because "Dey hate da Jews" and Jonathan mentions (after their dinner of ribs) that their stomachs were full of pork "like the good Jews we are" ; "So ... Only Nixon Could've Gone to China" shows Jonathan visiting a concentration camp while on a trip to Germany. Incidentally, I enjoyed that last story better when I read it on Baylis's website, since it had the music playing in the background while you read the last page.
Jonathan Rotsztain is the author-illustrator of the self-published works Self-Loving Jew and Journey into Jonathan. The first issue of his new series Self-Loving Jew Needs Love will debut at TCAF.
Josh Rosen is the illustrator of the book The Good Fight, inspired by the infamous Chrstie Pits Riot. The book was long-listed for the City of Toronto Book Award in 2021.
Mattie Lubchansky is a cartoonist who writes and illustrates the webcomic Please Listen to Me. Their 3-ingredient Passover brisket recipe comic was published online at Saveur and their response to the use of Holocaust imagery in Trump's America was included in the piece "Never Again?" (The Nib).
Neil Gaiman (appearing virtually) contributed scripts for stories that appeared in the anthology Outrageous Tales of the Old Testament. Cyril Camus discussed how Neil's Jewish background contributed both to certain characters and concepts in the Sandman series, as well as to the critical way that he presented his adaptations in the Knockabout anthology (see The "Outsider": Neil Gaiman and the Old Testament in Shofar :An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies vol. 29, N°2). On Sunday, a pre-recorded conversation between Neil and Mark Askwith will take place in the Hilton Learning Theatre from 3-4 PM.
NBM Graphic Novels is the publisher of the Jew in Communist Prague books, Brownsville, The Big Khan, and the Isaac the Pirate books.
Penguin Books is the current publisher of the Pulitzer-winner Holocaust graphic memoir Maus.
Robert Sikoryak is a cartoonist who has adapted classic stories into comic-style retellings, including a Dagwood-style "Adam and Eve", which was reprinted in Masterpiece Comics.
Rotem Anna Diamant is the founder and librarian of the Canada Comics Open Library, as well as a self-taught artist. Among her published works is the zine Cute Nose.
S. Bear Bergman is the author of the book Special Topics in Being a Human. One of the essays not included in the book is "How to Have a Disagreement without Having a Fight", which was published on the Jewish Book Council website.
Saul Freedman-Lawson is the illustrator of the book Special Topics in Being a Human. One of the essays not included in the book is "How to Have a Disagreement without Having a Fight", which was published on the Jewish Book Council website.
Shira Neiss is a freelance illustrator and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work is an irreverant, satirical exploration of her Ultra Orthodox Jewish upbringing.
Shira Spector , self-described as "an infertile, high-femme, low income, non-biological Jewish mom, dyke drama queen, and ectopic pregnancy survivor" is the author-illustrator of the graphic memoir Red Rock Baby Candy.
TO Comix Press is the publisher of anthologies of comic stories that take place in Toronto, written and drawn by Torontonian talents. One of the stories in the book Osgoode as Gold is "Finkel and Sons" by Sam Ruano, Xan Grey, Nechama Frier, and Andrew Thomas. Taking place during the infamous Chrstie Pits Riot, the tale invlolves a shopkeeper's son who must quickly decide how best to protect his family.
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