The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)will return June 7–8, 2025 at its new home at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Free and open to the public, TCAF 2025 will continue its two-decade legacy as one of the world’s premier comic arts festivals—championing independent Canadian comics, showcasing global talent, and engaging the public in the power of visual storytelling and graphic novels.
TCAF 2025 will host over 315 international and Canadian independent comic creators, with 28,000+ visitors expected across the weekend. The festival’s diverse programming offers something for everyone, from first-time readers to lifelong fans, educators to artists, students to scholars. This year, festival events have a particular focus on the political significance of comics as commentary.
In addition to the main festival weekend at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, TCAF 2025 offers an expanded slate of satellite events across the city:
Tuesday, June 3 – In partnership with TIFF, TCAF co-hosts a screening of Paying for It, followed by a Q&A with director Sook-Yin Lee, cartoonist Chester Brown, and TCAF’s own Ho Che Anderson. Chester Brown will be available for a signing following the event.
Thursday, June 5 – In collaboration with Drawn & Quarterly and Toronto Metropolitan University, TCAF hosts a special evening marking the paperback launch of Kate Beaton’s award-winning graphic memoir Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands. Featuring a musical performance by Peter MacInnis and an on-stage interview conducted by Mark Medley of The Globe & Mail.
Friday, June 6 – TCAF presents its annual kick-off panel. 2025’s theme is “Canadian Comics Now: Cartooning In a Dangerous Time.” Join acclaimed Canadian cartoonists Sanya Anwar, Guy Delisle, Faith Erin Hicks, and Cole Pauls in conversation with TCAF Festival Director Amie Wright.
In their latest announcement of featured guests at this year’s event, the Toronto Comic Arts Festivalhas announced the attendance of Jun Mayuzuki, the acclaimed creator of Kowloon Generic Romance and After the Rain.
A year after Jun Mayuzuki was a featured artist at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, she now receives even more international recognition as a featured guest at one of the most respected comics organizations in the world.
As a TCAF guest, Jun Mayuzuki joins an elite and exclusive club of manga-ka that includes the likes of Taiyo Matsumoto, Junji Ito, and Inio Asano.
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival takes place in Toronto, Ontario, from April 29 to 30.
TCAF has announced that its festival is back from June 17-19, 2022 — and will feature a unique combination of both real-life and virtual events.
Welcome to the biggest, most comprehensive, and inclusive TCAF to date! Following on the success of last year’s extensive range of virtual programming, TCAF will bring together the best of both worlds for 2022, offering one-of-a-kind virtual events alongside a new and improved online marketplace for global visitors, as well as the triumphant return of in-person programming, events and creator exhibition for local attendees.
Based in the Toronto Public Library’s Reference Library at 789 Yonge Street, as well as neighbouring venues, TCAF 2022 will spotlight hundreds of creators, publishers, and comics organizations from around the world. Featured programming will include talks, panels, classic Q&As, workshops, kids-specific events, and so much more!
After a challenging year, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced that TCAF is back from May 8-15, 2021 — with a virtual twist!
Free of the shackles of corporeal existence, TCAF’s marketplace will have more days than ever before, and include a week of on-demand programming. Comic and art lovers will be able to visit TCAF 2021 online to peruse and shop hundreds of exhibitors’ amazing works, sit in on classic Q&As, workshops, talks, and so much more!
TCAF’s new exhibition website is being made in partnership with Canzine (the festival of zines) and the Toronto Hand Eye Society. Zinesters and indie video game creators will be among the 600 virtual exhibitors in May!
Applicants will have the choice to apply for TCAF, Canzine OR Comics x Games. Accepted exhibitors will have a customizable online shop page where they can upload up to 5 items for sale. After TCAF, exhibitors will send all sold items to a warehouse, where orders will be bundled and shipped off to shoppers. This process is to help save exhibitors and visitors excess transaction and shipping fees. Options will be available to see additional products.
Applications to exhibit at TCAF 2021 are open until March 3rd, 2021. International exhibitors are welcome! CLICK HERE TO APPLY.
Chris Butcherhas announced that he has stepped down as the Artistic Director for TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Butcher cites his need to address his “persistent health and wellness issues” that he has neglected.
Butcher has also addressed criticism towards the festival and organization. They have been criticized for a lack of diversity in input and staff from BIPOC, disabled individuals, and trans people. They organization has admitted it can “do better.” There are also charges that those who have spoken up and attempted to volunteer to help the organization have had their input dismissed. And, when they were engaged not given the support needed and then blamed when those tasks aren’t completed.
Simply put, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)—whose leadership currently lacks Black or Indigenous representation —can do better.
Butcher acknowledges the criticism and in his announcement takes responsibility in the role he “played in devaluing the contributions of members of staff and volunteers.” Part of his stepping away is for himself to “be better.”
We’ll see what steps the festival and organization takes in the coming months and years as they’ve committed this is an ongoing project that they are dedicating themselves to.
TCAF is a comics festival that’s free to attend. It’s a week of comics-related events that includes readings, presentations, panels, gallery shows, and an exhibition area featuring publishers, authors, and artists. It was co-founded by Chris Butcher and Peter Mirkemoe with the first held on March 29, 2003. The show has grown from the original 600 attendees with 25 staff, and 780 creators to over 25,000 individuals in 2016.
Page & Panel opened its doors in 2014 but had to close on March 17 due to the State of Emergency in Ontario. The retail destination is more than just a destination for comics, art, and book culture but has been a supporter of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival.
With the cancellation of TCAF, the shop needs our help as it has lost it’s best weekend for sales which supports the store and the festival.
A GoFundMe has launched to help pay for overhead, make up lost revenue, and retaining and re-hiring staff.
The fundraiser has a goal of $20,000 and so far has raised about a third of its goal as of this post.
The Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) has announced that it will be canceling its 2020 convention due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was to take place on May 8-10.
After feedback from partners, sponsors, venues, health care officials, and the community, TCAF thought it’d be best to cancel. Restrictions on travel, events, and no end in sight all lead to the decision. While other conventions are postponing the uncertainty of it all and current restrictions made that difficult.
Exhibitors will receive refunds for their tables. They are also putting together a plan to help promote exhibitors and help promote creators in general.
French Minister of Culture Franck Riester, on his first official visit to Toronto, presented the insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres to Christopher Butcher, Artistic Director of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF), in the presence of the Ambassador of France to Canada, Kareen Rispal and the Consul General of France in Toronto, Tudor Alexis. The award ceremony took place at the Toronto Reference Library on Thursday, October 10, 2019.
This ceremony is an important symbolic act for France and Canada and at the same time pays tribute to the work accomplished by Mr. Christopher Butcher who has worked for more than twenty years to promote the comic book industry. Mr. Butcher has made a significant contribution to the arts and creativity in Toronto, creating the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) in 2013, an event that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Christopher Butcher’s achievements are recognized not only by his peers in Canada but also by the French public.
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres was created in 1957 to reward artists, writers and others who have distinguished themselves for their contributions to the promotion of the arts and literature in France and around the world. This order aims to establish relationships and develop cultural and linguistic exchanges. To be eligible for the award, candidates must have made “significant contributions to the enrichment of French cultural heritage”.
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is a comic book festival held annually in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 2003, subsequent events took place in 2005 in Mirvish Village and 2007 at Victoria College store. Since 2009, the event has been held annually in partnership with the Toronto Public Library at their flagship branch, the Toronto Reference Library. The Toronto Comic Arts Festival exists to promote the breadth and diversity of comics, and what is considered comics, as legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. TCAF promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices, for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as wide an audience as possible for them.
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival has announced that it will welcome the incredible creative team of Kid Koala and JonJon to the 2019 Festival as they present Floor Kids Jam, an Art X Music X Games interactive event featuring their new game Floor Kids! The event takes place as part of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, during its programming at The Marriott Bloor Yorkville, Conference Level (one block from Toronto Reference Library), on Saturday May 11 and Sunday May 12, from 11am-5pm each day. Admission to the event is free, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Kid Koala is the ground breaking Canadian Scratch DJ, music producer, composer, and award winning graphic novelist(!) who has contributed to Gorillaz and Deltron3030, toured with Arcade Fire and A Tribe Called Quest, contributed to the scores of ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ and ‘Baby Driver’, and created the graphic novels Space Cadet and Nufonia Must Fall. JonJon (aka Jonathan Ng) is the award-winning, multi-disciplinary animation filmmaker who created the award-winning film Requiem for Romance, and is best known for his NFB film Asthma Tech. Together this incredible duo has teamed to create the original, hand-drawn animated B-boy/B-Girl Freestyle Battle Video Game FLOOR KIDS! Now they’re taking the show on the road for a two-day exhibition of the game featuring Floor Kids Arcade consoles, behind the scenes looks at the creation of Floor Kids, and even Mini Scratch DJ and Animation workshops with Kid Koala and JonJon!
This event is part of Comics X Games, TCAF’s ongoing collaboration with the Hand Eye Society to explore the crossovers between comics, video games, and new narrative experiments. Look for more Comics X Games announcements soon.
In addition to the Floor Kids Jam: Art X Music X Games, Kid Koala is also bringing his Music to Draw To live event to TCAF! On Sunday, May 12th, from 2pm-5pm, join Kid Koala and friends for a a chill afternoon of quiet-time records and creativity! Kid Koala will play a 3 hour all vinyl set of his favourite ‘drawing tracks’ in a very special environment–the 5th Floor ‘Red Room’ of The Masonic Temple Concert Hall, 888 Yonge Street. Bring something quiet to do… Draw, Write, Finish that Screenplay, Knit that Scarf, Cofe that video game. Join Kid Koala and a room full of creative quiet types and get some work done!
TCAF continues an incredible year of Featured Guest announcements as it proudly unveils its Featured Kids Graphic Novel Authors for the 2019 Festival! A who’s-who of bestselling authors will be debut new books at TCAF, including Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Shannon & Dean Hale and LeUyen Pham (The Princess in Black, Real Friends), Judd Winick (HILO), and Colombian cartoonist Lorena Alvarez (Nightlights), who has also created TCAF’s second official Festival poster for 2019!
TCAF will featured non-stop programming for kids on both days of TCAF: Saturday, May 10, 9am to 5pm, and Sunday May 11, 10am to 5pm. This year we’re happy to announce that the TCAF Kids Area will return to the centre of the Festival, in the Beeton Auditorium on the ground floor of Toronto Reference Library, with select additional kids programming at the nearby Masonic Temple and The Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel. Programs will include live presentations, book readings, interactive drawing activities, and more! The full programming schedule will be unveiled in early April.
Now, keep reading to be introduced to this year’s Featured Kids Graphic Novel authors, and see the gorgeous poster created by Lorena Alvarez!
TCAF 2019 Official Poster by Featured Guest Lorena Alvarez
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is honoured to debut our second official Festival poster of 2019, by the incredible Lorena Alvarez! Hailing from Colombia, Alvarez is the author of the book Nightlights, and will be debuting her newest graphic novel Hicotea, both from publisher NoBrow. Alvarez will also be Featured as part of TCAF’s 2019 spotlight on Colombian cartooning, produced in association with the Colombian Entreviñetas Festival.
This poster joins the already-announced poster by Junji Ito.
TCAF 2019 Featured Kids Graphic Novel Authors
Lorena Alvarez was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia and will attend TCAF in support of her Festival debut Hicotea, the second book in the Nightlights series, published by NoBrow Entertainment. Lorena Alvarez is also part of TCAF’s 2019 spotlight on Colombian comics, and the artist of one of our official festival posters.
Kazu Kibuishi is the creator of the New York Times Bestselling Amulet graphic novel series (working with Jason Caffoe), which is published by Scholastic Graphix. Kazu has been exhibiting at TCAF for over a decade, creating the 2016 Festival poster, and is the editor and co-creator of the Flight and Explorer anthologies, which helped launch the careers of many of your favourite graphic novelists! Kazu attends TCAF in support of Amulet Book Eight: Supernova, which debuted in September 2018.
Jason Caffoe is an artist and illustrator from Seattle, Washington. He is best known as Kazu Kibuishi’s assistant on the Amulet series from Scholastic, Graphix! Caffoe has also contributed original stories to the TCAF-debuting anthology Tamamo the Fox Maiden and the Explorer series of graphic novels.
Shannon Hale & Dean Hale are the award-winning husband-and-wife team behind the Princess in Black series, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, and the duo behind the novelization of Marvel Comics’s Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Shannon Hale is also the author of the Newbery Honor novel Princess Academy as well as the New York Times best-selling series Ever After High.
LeUyen Pham is the illustrator of many books for children, including the graphic novel Real Friends by Shannon Hale (First Second). Pham attends TCAF in support of The Princess Wears Black: Science Fair Scare, debuting at the 2019 Festival. LeUyen Pham lives in California.
Chris Kuzma is an artist living in Toronto, ON with his wife, two children and their cat. He divides his time between drawing comics, doing freelance illustration and teaching at OCAD University. He is one-third of the Wowee Zonk comics collective, celebrating their 10th Anniversary of curating space and creator participation at TCAF! Kuzma attends TCAF this year in celebration of his debut graphic novel for kids, Lunch Quest, published by Koyama Press!
Aaron Leighton is an award-winning illustrator and art director, as well as a fan of all things occult. Aaron Leighton and his collective Trio Magnus contributed significantly to early TCAF’s through beautiful art installations and live-drawing! TCAF is thrilled to welcome him as a guest this year, in support of his debut children’s picture book release A Children’s Book of Demons, published by Koyama Press. Aaron lives in Toronto, ON and spends his free time wrestling with a black cat.
Chad Sell grew up in a small town in central Wisconsin, and lived in a neighbourhood very much like the one in his debut graphic novel The Cardboard Kingdom (Penguin Random House). Affirming the power of play during the most important years of identity-searching and emotional grown, The Cardboard Kingdom is a favourite of kids and adults alike, and we’re thrilled to have Chad at the show this year!
Raina Telgemeier is the author and illustrator of the graphic novels Smile, Drama, Sisters, and Ghosts, all #1 New York Times bestsellers. She also adapted and illustrated four graphic novel versions of Ann M. Martin’s Baby-sitters Club series, and has contributed short stories to many anthologies. Raina’s accolades include three Eisner Awards, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, a Stonewall Honor, and many Best-of and Notables lists. Raina lives and works in San Francisco, and is attending TCAF with the support of Scholastic Canada, and in celebration of her brand-new TCAF-debuting graphic novel Share Your Smile!
In addition, Raina Telgemeier will be the keynote speaker for the day of professional programming for industry members, including the ‘Librarian and Educator Day’ and ‘Word Balloon Academy’ programs. Telgemeier will also have multiple public appearances Saturday and Sunday, details TBA.
Judd Winick is an award winning cartoonist who has done all kinds of storytelling! He has written for animation on TV, and superhero comics, and written and drawn his own comic strips, graphic novels! Judd is currently still hard at work on his New York Times bestselling HILO series, published by Penguin Random House.
All Featured Guests will be available for autograph opportunities on both Saturday and Sunday of the Festival, at either the Little Island Comics signing area, or at their respective publishers’ booths. Look for final signing times in late April at the TCAF website.
