Small Press Expo has announced international special guests Ana Penyas, Paul Gravett, Jillian Tamaki, Mariko Tamaki, Reinhardt Kleist, and Michael Cherkas as Special Guests for SPX 2023. The show takes place on Saturday September 9 and Sunday September 10 with programming and workshops about the amazing world of independent comics and an exhibitor floor with over 500 creators.

Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki will attending SPX only on Sunday September 10.

Ana Penyas

Thanks to the generosity of Spain Arts & Culture, Ana Penyas is making the international journey to be a Special Guest at SPX 2023! In her newest book with Fantagraphics, We’re All Just Fine, Penyas weaves the memories of her grandmothers to craft a narrative quilt that pieces together what it was like for women to assimilate to Spain’s dramatic political and cultural shifts in the late 1970s and ’80s.

Paul Gravett

Nicknamed ‘The Man at the Crossroads’, Paul Gravett is making his first guest appearance at a U.S. comics festival at SPX 2023. Since 1981, he is a London-based, endlessly curious writer, historian and curator,specialising in international comics art. He is reknowned for co-publishing with Peter Stanbury the seminal British anthology ESCAPE Magazine and its related graphic novels (1983-89), which helped introduce Eddie Campbell, Jamie Hewlett, Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean and many other British talents. His books span from his first in 2004, ‘Manga; Sixty Years of Japanese Comics’, out in 12 languages, to his latest, a monograph for the Thames & Hudson series ‘The Illustrators‘ about

Jillian Tamaki

Jillian Tamaki is a cartoonist, illustrator, and educator residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her next book, Roaming, is co-created with her cousin Mariko Tamaki. The pair previously collaborated on the young adult graphic novels SKIM and This One Summer, which won a Governor General’s Award and Caldecott Honor.

Mariko Tamaki

Mariko Tamaki is a Canadian writer living in California. Her next book, Roaming, is co-created with her cousin Jillian Tamaki. The pair previously collaborated on the young adult graphic novels Skim and This One Summer, which won a Governor

Reinhardt Kleist

Reinhard Kleist, master of the graphic biography form, comes to SPX with his latest book ‘STARMAN: Bowie’s Stardust Years‘. A stunning graphic biography of the legendary musician and cultural icon, David Bowie, focusing on his most influential and creative period in the 1970s. From Ziggy Stardust to Aladdin Sane, from Berlin to New York, this book captures the essence of Bowie’s transformation and innovation.

Michael Cherkas

RED HARVEST: The Terror Famine in Soviet Ukraine is a historical-fiction masterpiece by Ukrainian-Canadian author Michael Cherkas synthesizing true stories and historical accounts from the Holodomor, a terror-famine that killed at least 4 million Ukrainians during the early ‘30s under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.