On June 10th, The Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival (A2CAF) will host its 14th annual event at the Ann Arbor District Library.
For this year, The A2CAF returns to full form for the first time since 2019. In years prior, the event elected to run at half capacity, hosting a covid-safe miniature version of the event called A2CAF Mini, which took place over one day with nine events.
This year the A2CAF will feature around 40 artists and over 30 events over its two-day run. These activities include Author Spotlights with The Baby-Sitters Club creator Gale Galligan and award-winning graphic novelist Nate Powell.
For those unfamiliar, The A2CAF is a collaborative event between Kids Read Comics and Ann Arbor District Library. With workshops, art activities, and one-on-one meetings between comic readers and comics makers, this event promotes and celebrates a lifelong love of comics.
Helping put together this yearly event is a librarian and A2CAF co-producer, Audrey Huggett, who describes this event as a yearly commemoration of art and comics.
“The A2CAF is an event focused on connecting artists and creators with audiences and fans.” Huggett said. “This is an event focused on giving people an opportunity to interact with creators. Either by talking to them at their table or going to a workshop run by Nate Powell or Jen Wang. We are giving them opportunities to interact with them in a more immediate way than you might at a larger convention.”
Leading this year’s guest lists are the following:
- Gale Galligan (New York Times Best-Selling Cartoonist)
- Nate Powell (Award-Winning graphic novelist)
- Dan Santat (Award-Winning Author)
- Jen Wang (Cartoonist, Writer and Co-founder for Los Angeles-based comics festival Comic Arts LA.)
“I am excited about our headliners this year.” Huggett said, “We work with the community partner, kids read comics, and they’re helpful with reaching out to our headliners. We try to look for folks comfortable with kids and comfortable with leading workshops and interacting with people of all ages because that is a focus of our show. But overall, we are looking across the common comics world and trying to find a large or broad group of voices to highlight.”
This free event will feature activities for everyone of all ages. Programs for this event will feature face painting, Interactive Story Creation, and a concert from Midwest pop band, The Shake Ups.
“Hearing the authors talk about their careers is very interesting.” Huggett said, “The opportunities to make comics with creators are unique to this show and special. I’m excited about our events. I think there’s a good range of skill building and storytelling.”
According to its website, The A2CAF highlights all comic-book readers. Huggett says this event is the perfect way to kick off the summer.
“This is a fun show because of the people excited to be there,” Huggett said. “There is a lot of great energy, and it is the first weekend of summer. Everyone will be excited about that. This event is a good thing to attend if you are out of work/school or looking for something to do with your kids. It’s a good place to stop by.”
For more information call the Ann Arbor District Library at (734) 327-4200 or visit www.aadl.org.
Antonio Cooper is a freelance journalist from Detroit, Michigan. His coverage of music festivals and interviews with local celebrities appeared in The E-Current Magazine, The Detroit Metro Times, XXL Magazine, RichMagDigital, The Ann Arbor Observer, and Pop Magazine.
