After Bartosz Sztybor, it is his regular collaborator's, artist Piotr Nowacki's turn to answer a few questions before the festival. Again, Aneta Kaczmarek helped with the translation.

Antal Bayer: Can Polish artists choose to make a career out of comics, by volunteering for a popular series or character, or are they more or less condemned to do something by themselves and then try to get it published?

Piotr Nowacki: Currently, the Polish market has no series that would be published for years and offer an opportunity for young talented artists to continue them. Honestly speaking, there were some efforts were made to reactivate a few of the vintage, popular titles such as Kajko i Kokosz by Janusz Christa or Kapitan Żbik, created in the Communist era by different artists. Despite the initiative these series were not successful. The young generation of artists has to create their own heroes and series and try hard to get them published. What I am mostly fond of in creating comics is designing my own characters and worlds. I do hope that in the future my characters and books will become as popular with readers as the classic ones remembered by the generations of Poles who grew up on them.  

AB: You used to be the editor-in-chief of a magazine called Karton. What was it like, does it still exist? Did you like doing it, and why did this come to an end?

A few days before the festival our guest from Poland, comics writer Bartosz Sztybor was kind enough to answer some questions via e-mail. Thanks to Aneta Kaczmarek for her assistance.

Antal Bayer: Your special edition comic book for the festival is a very pleasant surprise. Are the three stories included brand new, or have they appeared somewhere before?

Bartosz Sztybor: These three stories were made before the Budapest Festival, but only one of them appeared in a comic book (an anthology of my and Piotr Nowacki's works, a book called "Tainted"). The other two were made for short stories competitions and this will be the first time that they appear in print. So that pleasant surprise is also a pleasant surprise for me. 

AB: Somehow I have the impression that you especially like silent comics. Why? Is it because of the special challenge?

BS: That's true, I'm a really big fan of silent comics. I love the works by Thomas Ott, Nicolas Presl and - last but not least - my idol, Jason. Silent comics are universal and they can be understood all over the world. That's one of the reasons why I like to write silent comics. 

This is a short presentation of the international guests of the 10th Budapest International Comics Festival, May 18th 2014.

	Boulet (France) Born in 1975, real name Gilles Roussel. Studied arts in Dijon and Strasbourg. In 1988, was noticed at a comics competition held in Switzerland by Zep (the author of Titeuf) who invited him to his then starting Tchô! comics magazine, where Boulet drew comics for three years. His first own comic book (Raghnarok) was published in 2001. In 2004, he started his comic blog which soon became very popular, with 30,000 daily hits. From 2009, there is also an English-language version of the blog, and the entries are published in a series of books in France under the title Notes. He also drew two episodes of the famous Donjon series. At the festival, he will be doing an interactive free improvisation, and a collection of his blog notes will appear in Hungarian under the title "Jegyzetfüzet". Boulet's participation at the festival is supported by the French Institute of Budapest.
	Hélène Becquelin (Switzerland) The Lausannce-based artist finished art school in 1987 and then started working for advertising agencies as a graphic artist. When her children were born, she became a freelancer, and in 2006 started her Angry Mum blog which soon became popular, and two printed volumes also came out. At the festival, we will be talking with her about the inspiration of the blog, and a selection of the two books will be published in Hungarian under the title "Angry Mum felkapja a vizet".
	Claudio Chiaverotti (Italy) The writer born in 1965 first studied dentistry, then law before deciding to make a living out of writing comics. His first professional work was writing stories for Bonvi's Sturmtruppen series. He joined the Bonelli publishing house three years later, in 1989, becoming the most important writer next to creator Tiziano Sclavi of the Dylan Dog series. In 1998, he created his own character, Brendon, whose adventures take place in a postapocalyptic universe. On the occasion of the festival, a special edition of Dylan Dog story written by Chiaverotti will appear.
	Bartosz Sztybor (Poland) Born in Warsaw in 1980, divides his career between films and comics. A large number of his comics have appared in verious anthologies, including one in English, in the Zombie Terrors e-comics series' issue 4. He works in a variety of registers, writing both for children and comics experimenting in visual storytelling. Currently, his 2-page stories appear in a history magazine, and he writes two strips for weekly magazines. His comics have won numerous prizes in Poland, Italy, Serbia, Macedonia and the Netherlands. His best know character is Kapitan Mineta, drawn by his regular collaborator, Piotr Nowacki. At the festival, a collection of their common work appears under the title Options, including three stories without words. Sztybor's blog.
	Piotr Nowacki (Poland) An artist who is also a qualified engineer, born in 1979 and living in Warsaw for six years. Nowacki creates comics, illustrations and character designs, and acted as editor-in-chief of the Karton comics magazine for two years. his works have been featured in Polish collective exhibitions in Hungary, Lithuania and Israel. His comics have appeared in several issues of the British online magazine, Comical Animal. At the festival, he will take part in several improvisations together with Hungarian and guest artists. Nowacki's blog.
	Nicolas Grivel (France) Building on his experience in publishing gained at Pika, a comics branch of the Hachette publishing groupm created his own Nicolas Grivel Agency, helping a number of well-known artists to get publishing deals worldwide, working with partners in the USA, China, Britain, Italy, Austria, Canada and Australia. Teachies classes in comics and publishing at two French and one American university. At the festival, he will be giving a presentation of the current state of the two major Western comics markets, the US and France, concentrating on opportunities for aspiring artists.

The planned program of the 10th Budapest International Comics Festival (subject to change)

Stage A:

10:00 Presentations of the finalists of the ArtComix competition
11:00 Official opening ceremony
11.15 Lucky Luke: 40 years in Hungary, roundtable and game
12:00 Pál Korcsmáros and the women - presentation by Gábor Korcsmáros (grandson and publisher of the legendary Hungarian comics artist)
12:30 Comic market situation in France and the USA - presentation by Nicolas Grivel (FR)
13:00 Batman and Marvel-comics, plans of the Kingpin publishing house - presentation by Tamás Harza
14:00 Miklós Galla's love story with British comics - stand-up performance
14:30 Award ceremony: Alfabéta-prizes for the best Hungarian long and short comics of 2013, Pál Korcsmáros-prize for the most notable achievement in 2013, announcement of the winner of the Art Comix competition
15:00 From the bottom of the drawer to the kiosk: possibilities of comics publishing in Hungary today - presentation by András Tálosi, publisher of the EpicLine monthly magazine
15:30 Comic Battle improvisation with Hungarian artists and international guests
16:00 Conversation with our international guests

Stage B:

11:30 The story of Angry Mum - conversation with Hélène Becquelin (CH)
12:00 The Rabbi's Cat (French animated film with English subtitles, 90 minutes)
13.30 The Dan Buzdugan comic - conversation with legendary artists Puiu Manu (ROM) and Lívia Rusz, led by Ferenc Kiss and Dodo Nita, editors of the reissue
14 The 8th District of the Lord - conversation with writer Dániel Levente Pál and artist István Lakatos about their illustrated book in progress
15:00 Options - presentation by writer Bartosz Sztybor and artist Piotr Nowacki (PL)
15:30 Dylan Dog, Brendon and the others - presentation by Claudio Chiaverotti (IT)
16:00 The Illusionist (French animated film with English subtitles, 90 minutes)

Garden:

13.00-15.00 Interactive drawing with Boulet (FR)
11.00-14.00 "Petting Farm" with Hungarian artists, aka "Drink & Draw" and "Comic Jam" - interactive drawing of comics  with a number of Hungarian artists (including Barnabás Ábrai, Szabolcs Barta, Olivér Csepella, Zoltán Fehér, Gergely Fórizs, Zoltán Fritz, Artúr Haránt, Attila Jáger, Magdolna Kasza, Judit Kiss, István Lakatos, Gergely Madarász, Gábor Molnár, Ferenc Nóthof, Ádám Pádár, Roland Pilcz, Andrea Süli, Zoltán Szécsi, Tamás Vári, Nóra Vincze)
- Napirajz ("Daily drawings") signing session with Dániel Merényi

The 10th Budapest International Comics Festival will be held on May 18th, 2014, in Dürer Kert.

Main attractions:

- Comics fair with dozens of Hungarian comics publishers and self-published authors and groups

- Signing sessions, improvisations and "Comic Battle" with well-know Hungarian artists and international guests

- Limited edition special festival issues of Italian, French, Swiss, Polish and Romanian comics

- Awards ceremony of the Alfabéta and Korcsmáros Pál prizes for last year's best new Hungarian comics and achievements

- Presentations about a diversity of topics, including Lucky Luke, Batman, publishing a monthly book and the state of the comics market abroad

- Screening of two French animated films

- ArtComix competition presentations

Official poster created by multiple Alfabéta-prize winner Dániel Csordás: