News
Thank you to everyone for an incredible PCAF 2024, from all the artists, guest speakers, and our friends at the @statelibrarywa, this has been our best year yet!
A big thank you to our team of committee members behind PCAF, who volunteer their time and energy year-round to make it one of the best comics festivals in Australia.
Finally, an extra special thank you to our amazing sponsors! We are a not-for-profit organisation so they help us keep this wonderful weekend of comics, talks and workshops 100% free!
While the festival is over for this year, keep an eye out for future updates 
Alongside the Market Hall featuring over 100 comics artists, our Market Day has a full day of insightful and engaging workshops- all FREE to attend!
PCAF 2024 Market Day Workshops
SUNDAY July 28th
State Library of WA Theater
FREE Event, All Ages Welcome
Ticketed Bookings Essential!
To secure your ticket, head to the link HERE to browse all of PCAF 2024’s upcoming events.
Mixing It Up
State Library of Western Australia Theater – Level 1
10:30 – 11:30am
Featuring: Trace Balla
Join Trace in a super lively interactive session where anything is possible. As a self-described *story catcher’ Trace mixes words with pictures, stories, and nature journaling. She will share tips and tricks of her process and you will get to create your own comic strip along with the collaborative one.
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
Comics Battle Royale
State Library of Western Australia Theater – Level 1
12:00 – 1:00pm
Featuring: Thi Bui, Ariel Ries, Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, Reimena Yee, Lola Baldsing & Campbell Whyte
Five outstanding comic makers battle it out for your entertainment to decide who has the mightiest pen in town! Ridiculous challenges, unimaginable quests and unwinnable obstacles all stand between them and victory.
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
Squishface! with David Blumenstein
State Library of Western Australia Theater – Level 1
1:30 – 2:30pm
Featuring: David Blumenstein
Join members of Melbourne’s Squishface Comic Studio for a family friendly comics workshop in celebration of Squishbook! This new comics anthology by 13 local artists and writers is a very silly, but truthful, guide to how and why children should make their own comics and stories. At this event we’ll try some activities from the book and kids will do just that!
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
Flipbooks with Ash Djokic
State Library of Western Australia Theater – Level 1
3:00 – 4:00pm
Featuring: Ash Djokic
Come along and participate in a flipbook ‘ani-jam’ with the Brisbane based animator and cartoonist Ash Djokic! Using index cards and drawing materials, participants will create a collaborative flip-book animation. Like the surrealist activity ‘exquisite corpse, participants are encouraged to improvise and collaborate to weave each improvised sequence to the next.
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
The schedule for the Academy Day Talks has been released and we have an absolutely packed day of talks and seminars by comic creators from our own home grown locals to industry juggernauts!
PCAF 2024 Academy Day Talks
SATURDAY July 27th
State Library of WA
FREE Event, All Ages Welcome
Ticketed Bookings Essential!
To secure your ticket, head to the link HERE to browse all of PCAF 2024’s upcoming events.
The Page and the Panel
State Library of WA – Level 1
11:00am – 11:45am
Featuring: Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
As comics-makers, we are faced with balancing an endless tension between the limits of The Page and the endless possibilities of The Panel. Join us as celebrated comics-maker Rosemary Valero-O’Connell takes us on a guided journey through her creative process of creating compelling comic layouts.
Rosemary is a 2 Eisner and 4 Ignatz awards winning co-creator of acclaimed graphic novel Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, alongside Mariko Tamaki, and the sole creator of Don’t Go Without Me and Golden Record. Needless to say, you’ll be in good hands.
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
So-called Australia
State Library of Western Australia – Level 1
12:00 – 12:45pm
Featuring: Lola Baldsing, Scott Higginbotham, Molly Hunt & Andrei Buters, moderated by Campbell Whyte
Join this eclectic panel of comics-makers as they discuss how they have re-imagined Australia as a land of fantasy, science fiction and the supernatural. The paradoxical nature of this place as both ancient and young, untouched and unsettled, pristine and polluted, makes it uniquely fertile ground for the imagination. The works discussed will include web comic sensation Solid State by Lola Baldsing and Scott Higginbotham, Spinifex Valley by Molly Hunt, which launches The Alchemy Universe series, and the post-apocalyptic Perth opus Dead by Thirty by Andrei Buters.
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
Story Hatching Story Catching
Level 1 – State Library of Western Australia
2:00 – 2:45 pm
Featuring: Trace Balla
Beloved Australian comics-maker, Trace Balla will share a behind the scenes presentation on how she transforms real experiences into compelling narratives that gently guide readers through geographical and emotional spaces. Have a peep at her latest work in progress, ask questions, and have a go at making a short comic yourself. Trace’s multi award winning books include Rockhopping, Rivertime, Shine, Landing with Wings, Leaflight and The Thank You Dish.
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
How to Fix a Broken Nest
State Library of Western Australia – Level 1
3:00 – 3:45pm
Featuring: Thi Bui & Elizabeth Marruffo
Internationally acclaimed graphic novelist Thi Bui will join PCAF’s Creative Director, Elizabeth Marruffo to discuss their motivations for making autobiographical comics and the discoveries they’ve made along the way. Join us as we reflect on the homes that we make, the homes that we choose, the homes that are imagined and the homes that are inherited.
Thi Bui is the author of the award winning graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do. She is currently researching and drawing Nowhereland, a work of graphic nonfiction about immigrant detention and deportation. Elizabeth Marruffo is currently working on her debut comic Pup Pup is the Boss of the Stars, set in her small hometown on the border in Mexico.
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
My Biggest Mistakes
State Library of Western Australia – Level 1
4:00 – 4:45 pm
Featuring: Ariel Ries, Reimena Yee, Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, Thi Bui, Andrei Buters, David Blumenstein & Aśka
Everything is going great, right? No problems here, just smooth sailing, making comics and living our best lives. Well, we know that’s not really the case. In this session, we’re going to be getting messy and revealing our biggest comics mistakes with the hope you don’t have to make them too!
Book your FREE ticket HERE!
Join us in welcoming our final guest – Molly Hunt
“Multi-faceted Balanggarra and Yolngu woman, best known for my bold and colourful illustrations & commercial brand collaborations. I am an illustrator, animator, journalist, presenter and comic author/illustrator. Originally from Wyndham, WA. I have a unique blend of pop culture and blak contemporary style to my work.
Before developing my career into art, I first started my career in journalism, having worked in mainstream media such as the ABC, Vogue, JUNKIE Media and 10 News.”
See more of Molly’s work on her Portfolio!
Molly will also be co-hosting one of our free talks on Academy Day and taking part in our Market Day with Comics On Country. Make sure to keep an eye on our socials for our full program announcement as bookings will be essential for talks and workshops on both days. But the Market Hall on Sunday is always open to the public!
Please join us in welcoming our favourite story catcher – Trace Balla
Trace Balla loves to illustrate and write songs and stories, and inspire others in their creativity and awareness of the wonders of the natural world and the ample stories that surround us.
Her multi award winning books include Rockhopping, Rivertime, Shine, Landing with Wings, Leaflight and The Thank You Dish.
Themes include gratitude, grief, slowing down, growing up, connecting with the land and its’ creatures, the joy of the outdoors and the lessons nature can teach us. She is currently working very slowly on a graphic novella about her life.
Trace will be hosting a free talk on Academy Day on the 27th and taking part in our Market Day on the 28th. Make sure to keep an eye on our socials for our full program announcement as bookings will be essential for talks and workshops on both days. But the Market Hall on Sunday is always open to the public!
See more of Trace’s work on her Portfolio!
