This year’s Galway Cartoon Festival, in Ireland, will feature an American cartoonist – Dave Coverly, creator of Speedbump. Dave submitted cartoons last year for their festival exhibit and was happy to get an invitation to be a featured guest at this year’s festival.
While this may be Dave’s first time at the Galway Cartoon Festival, he is no stranger to Ireland. Years ago, he attended The Cat Laughs (comedy festival) and Kilkenny Animated Festival before they stopped inviting cartoonists. He’s also been to Galway twice on family vacations and Speedbump ran in the Irish Times for many years.
As a festival guest, Dave will appear and read his children’s book, The Very Inappropriate Word, during the Children’s Hour at Charlie Byrne’s independent bookshop. On Sunday, he will give a talk on the topic of “Where do ideas come from, anyway? How does a person do this sort of thing for 30 years? Why would anyone be dumb enough to do this sort of thing for 30 years?”
He will also have a solo exhibit of his work featuring 20 of his cartoons. He’s not sure which ones will be on display. He sent the festival far more than required to give the festival organizers an opportunity to weed out any whose punchline might not land with the Irish attendees.
This is not the first time the Irish festival has invited an American to their event, Last year Ed Steckley, illustrator and Mad Magazine cartoonist, was one of the featured guests.
The festival runs October 4-9, 2024.
Great to see, Dave’s work is outstanding.