Paco Roca, or Francisco José Martínez Roca in full, was born in 1969 in Valencia, Spain. He has been an avid consumer of comic books since childhood, beginning with such classics as the »Asterix« and »The Adventures of Tintin.« His stylistic influences include artists such as Richard Corben, Carlos Giménez
Olivier Schrauwen was born in Bruges, Belgium, in 1977. He studied animation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent and comic-strip drawing at Saint Luc in Brussels. He worked on numerous collected albums and series such as »Hic Sunt Leones« (2003) and »Spirou«; in 2006 Schrauwen published his first
Oisín McGann was born in Dublin in 1973. Interested in writing and illustrating stories since childhood, from 1990 to 1991 he did a foundation course in printing and design at Ballyfermot Senior College in Dublin and then studied Animation at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. After
Norman Manea was born in Suceava, Bukovina, Romania, in 1936. As a child he was deported to a Transnistrian concentration camp in the Ukraine and he returned to Romania with surviving members of his family in 1945. Manea studied in Bucharest and worked as a hydraulic engineer. He published his
Norman Ohler was born in Zweibrücken, Rheinland-Pfalz, in 1970. After graduating from the renowned Hamburg School of Journalism, he wrote for »Der Spiegel« and »Stern«. »Geo« sent him to South Africa for a special issue on the country’s tumultuous transition from apartheid to democracy. In 1993 Ohler moved to New
Moritz Rinke, born in 1967 in Worpswede, studied applied theater studies in Giessen. He worked for the »Tagesspiegel« as a columnist and reporter from 1994 to 1996. He was twice awarded the Axel Springer Prize and a collection of his texts was published in 2001 as »Der Blauwal im Kirschgarten«
Mohammed Hanif was born in Okara, Pakistan, in 1965. He graduated from the Pakistan Air Force Academy and then worked as a pilot for the Air Force. After a few years in the military, he decided to change professions and embarked on a career as a journalist and writer. Hanif
born in 1967 in Port Said, Egypt, Eltahawy studied journalism in Cairo and reported from Egypt and other parts of the Middle East for Reuters news agency, »The Guardian« and other publications before moving to the United States in 2000. She returned to Cairo in 2013. Most of her work
Mirko Bonné was born in 1965 in Tegernsee, Germany. He completed his Abitur and his alternative to military service not far from Hamburg. Following that, he worked as a bookselling assistant, a geriatric nursing assistant, a taxi driver, and a journalist. Since the early 1990s, Mirko Bonné has published volumes
Michel Kichka was born in 1954 in Liège, Belgium. While studying architecture he created his first comics for »Curiosity Magazine.« He established in Israel in 1974 and studied Graphic Design at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, where he also later taught, training comic book artists such as Rutu Modan
Michael Cunningham was born in 1952 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cunningham grew up in Pasadena, California. He studied English literature at Stanford and went on to a James Michener fellowship at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, graduating with a master of fine arts from the University of Iowa. Even while still in
