Have you ever held a postcard you longed to step into? Thanks to the love of her granddaughter, the ageing protagonist is able to do just that.

Comics

A slightly nostalgic fondness for sending postcards from summer holidays lies at the heart of this charming intergenerational story about the power of family, love and the imagination. The enticing landscape postcards from places visited by the eponymous G. (the granddaughter) during her holiday travels become, for her ageing grandmother, a gateway to adventurous journeys. One of them experiences them first-hand, the other from the apparent calm of a living-room armchair. Together they gradually find themselves on sheep-filled pastures, in dark forests perfect for mushroom foraging, on icy mountain peaks, and by sulphurous springs. One of the great hopes of the young Czech comics scene, Kateřina Illnerová received the Muriel Award in 2024 for Best Student Comics for this work which was originally her graduation project. The poetic narrative, drifting along in drowsy summer enchantment, is perfectly matched by a playful stylization, rich yet subdued colours, and an inventive, loose approach to panel grids and page composition.

Kateřina Illnerová prefers to draw stories about completely ordinary things, such as porcelain plates, mailboxes, shelves full of books, teapots, and cats. She graduated from the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. She attracted attention in 2022 when she won the prestigious international Silent Book Contest. She is a multiple winner of the Czech Annual Muriel Comics Award. Her inspirations include Jean-Jacques Sempé and Shaun Tan.