On 24th September the Czech comic book writer and artist Vojtěch Mašek will be heading off to the English town of Kendal, where the festival is to be held, for a four-week creative stay. While he is there, he will be participating in this year’s festival, which will take place on 11th – 13th October. In return, the CLC will be hosting the British illustrator and artist Jacob Phillips for four weeks in Prague. Exchange residency stays are also planned for 2020 and 2021.

Dates of Vojtěch Mašek’s residency stay in Kendal: 24th September – 18th October 2019

Dates of Jacob Phillips’ residency stay in Prague: 25th October – 22nd November 2019

Profiles of the artists:

Vojtěch Mašek is a comics writer and artist, author of film screenplays and theatre plays. His comic books have received eleven Muriel Awards and two have been published abroad. Along with Džian Baban, he contributed to the staging of Monstrkabaret Freda Brunolda (Fred Brunold’s Monster Cabaret), which gave rise to a comic-book trilogy. The film Křižáček (Little Crusader, 2017), which he co-wrote received the main award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Along with Markéta Hajská and Máša Bořkovcová, he created the triptych O přibjehi (2010), commenting on the fate of Czech and Slovak Roma. Mašek is also the author of the internet hit Recykliteratura, which builds on the avant-garde tradition of associative montages using photographs and texts found in books and magazines.

Jacob Phillips is a freelance illustrator based in Manchester. When he was just 11 years old he wrote, drew and home-printed his first comic book, Roboy. He took this to Brighton Comic Convention and flogged it from behind a table, selling out on the first day. Ever since, he has been scribbling away, working with clients such as BBC, Arrow Film, Headspace Property, Arte and Kino Lorber. Jacob is the current colorist on Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal as well as working on his first original Image series, Past Is Prologue, with writer Chris Condon.