Home Category Comic Books Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival Returns on June 10-11th

Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival Returns on June 10-11th

June 7, 2023

Get ready the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival 2023 on Saturday, June 10 & Sunday, June 11 at the Downtown Library from 11 am-6 pm each day. Hosted in partnership with Kids Read Comics, we’ll have artists, hands-on workshops, quick draws & more! Details at the link.

A2CAF 2023 features:

Gale Galligan

Gale Galligan is a New York Times-bestselling cartoonist and shrimp chip enthusiast. They are the creator of four Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptations (books five through eight!) and have written for IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog. You can also spot them in The Claudia Kishi Club, a wonderful short documentary on Netflix.

Find Your Style with Gale Galligan
Saturday, June 10, 3:30-4:30pm
Gale Galligan will walk you through the process of how they developed their own drawing style over the years and share techniques and ideas to help you find yours!

Signing with Gale Galligan
Saturday, June 10, 4:45-5:45pm
Meet Gale Galligan and get your copies signed. Copies of their books are also available for purchase.

Author Spotlight: Comics are for Everyone with Gale Galligan
Sunday, June 11, 2-3pm
Learn how Gale Galligan got into comics and eventually turned that passion into a career. Gale will pull back the curtain on their graphic novel-making process, and do a small drawing demo.

Signing with Gale Galligan
Sunday, June 11, 3:15-4:15pm
Meet Gale Galligan and get your copies signed. Copies of their books are also available for purchase.

Nate Powell

Nate Powell began self-publishing comics as an Arkansas teenager in 1992, and is the first cartoonist ever to win the National Book Award. His work includes the graphic essay/memoir Save It For Later, Ozark horror tale Come Again, civil rights icon John Lewis’ March trilogy and its follow-up Run, comics essay About Face, and graphic novels Two Dead, Any Empire, and Swallow Me Whole. Powell’s work has also received a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, four Eisner Awards, two Ignatz Awards, multiple ALA and YALSA distinctions, and the Comic-Con International Inkpot Award.

Author Spotlight: Nate Powell Looking Back, Looking Forward
Saturday, June 10, 2–3pm
Join award-winning Special Guest Nate Powell as he discusses his career in comics with MSU Professor and comics scholar, Julian Chambliss.

Signing with Nate Powell
Saturday, June 10, 3:15–4:15pm
Meet Nate Powell and get your copies signed. Copies are also available for purchase.

Signing with Nate Powell
Sunday, June 11, 11am-12pm
Meet Nate Powell and get your copies signed. Copies are also available for purchase.

Dan Santat

Dan Santat is the Caldecott Medal–winning and New York Times–bestselling author and illustrator of The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend and the road trip/time travel adventure Are We There Yet? His artwork is also featured in numerous picture books, chapter books, and middle-grade novels, including Dav Pilkey’s Ricky Ricotta series. Dan lives in Southern California with his wife, two kids, and many, many pets.

Author Spotlight: Finding Inspiration with Dan Santat
Saturday, June 10, 12:30–1:30pm
Dan Santat reflects on his books and how his life has influenced the stories he has written and drawn.

Signing with Dan Santat
Saturday, June 10, 1:45–2:45pm
Stop by to meet Dan Santat and get your copies signed! Copies are also available for purchase.

Drawing the World in Squares and Circles with Dan Santat
Sunday, June 11, 11am-12pm
Learn to draw complex shapes and figures by starting with simple forms and then adding detail. Dan Santat will guide this hands-on drawing workshop and let you see how an artist views the world.

Signing with Dan Santat
Sunday, June 11, 12:15-1:15pm
Stop by to meet Dan Santat and get your copies signed! Copies are also available for purchase.

Jen Wang

Jen Wang is the award-winning New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator of several graphic novels for young readers including Stargazing, The Prince and The Dressmaker, In Real Life (co-written with Cory Doctorow), and Koko Be Good. She is also a co-founder and organizer for Comic Arts LA.

Author Spotlight: Jen Wang on Creating Comics
Saturday, June 10, 11am–12pm
Jen Wang discusses how her comics are made, from drawing to publication!

Signing with Jen Wang
Saturday, June 10, 12:15–1:15pm
Meet Jen Wang and have your copies of her books signed! Copies are also available for purchase.

Learn Storytelling through Comics with Jen Wang
Sunday, June 11, 12:30-1:30pm
Join Jen Wang to learn the nuts and bolts of making comics.

Signing with Jen Wang
Sunday, June 11, 1:45-2:45pm
Meet Jen Wang and have your copies of her books signed! Copies are also available for purchase.