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Toronto Comic Arts Festival to Host Witch Hat Atelier Manga Creator Kamome Shirahama
posted on by Alex Mateo
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) announced on Wednesday that it will host Kamome Shirahama, creator of the Witch Hat Atelier manga at this year's event. Shirahama will participate in a live-drawing session, an interview, and autograph sessions.
TCAF and Kodansha will also feature a gallery of Shirahama's works at The Japan Foundation Toronto in May.
In addition to creating Witch Hat Atelier, Shirahama has drawn cover illustrations for comics, including Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Star Wars: The last Jedi, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, and Wonder Woman.
The Witch Hat Atelier manga's story centers on Koko, a girl who lives in a little village, and who has always dreamed of becoming a wizard. But being born without magical aptitude meant that she could never become a wizard, and could never hope to witness magic's spark. She gave up on her dream. But one day, a traveling wizard named Kiefley came to her village, and she happened to see him performing magic.
The manga launched in Monthly Morning two in July 2016. Kodansha published the manga's sixth compiled volume on November 21. Kodansha Comics began releasing the series in English in April 2019.
The series was nominated for the Best Comic award at Angoulême International Comics Festival in January 2019. The manga was also nominated for the 11th Manga Taisho awards in 2018. The series ranked in the top 10 on the list of the best manga for male readers in the 2018 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook. The manga ranked on American Library Association's (ALA's) Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens list this year.
This year's TCAF will take place from May 9-10 in Toronto, Canada.
Source: Press release
