Two of the most important feminist voices from Scandinavia discuss their hugely successful comics

Unfortunately Marta Breen is no longer taking part in this panel discussion due to the continuing uncertainty around Coronavirus. The event will go ahead as planned and feature a conversation between award-winning graphic novelists Hannah Berry and Kaisa Leka.

UK Comics Laureate Hannah Berry joins Marta Breen from Norway and Kaisa Leka from Finland to discuss the power of comics to engage people around feminism, women’s rights and identity politics more broadly.

Marta Breen is a prizewinning Norwegian author of non-fiction. She has written about women in Norwegian pop music; the book Born Feminist, and the bestseller, 60 Women you should know about  in collaboration with illustrator Jenny Jordahl. The pair have also worked together onThe F Word’, which won the Norwegian Ministry of Culture’s textbook prize for young people. Breen and Jordahl’s newest collaboration, Women in Battle, is a graphic novel that tells the stories of fearless females who have fought, and continue to fight, for the rights of women today. This book has so far been published in 26 countries. 

Kaisa Leka is a Finnish comic artist and adventurer who, together with her faithful sherpa Christoffer Leka, publishes autobiographical books about the nature of being. She has been awarded the Finnish Comics Society’s prestigious Puupäähattu prize and several of the duo’s books have received design prizes such as Grafia’s Gold Award. 

Hannah Berry is an award-winning graphic novelist, comics creator, writer, illustrator, and UK Comics Laureate 2019-21. In 2018 she was inducted as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her three graphic novels to date (Britten and Brülightly, Adamtin’ and Livestock’ have found international acclaim and Livestock won Hannah the Broken Frontier Award for Best Writer. 

This event is part of the British Library’s first Nordic Cultural Roundtable. There are displays from cultural institutes and projects available to view all day, including a glimpse of the exhibition Hero(ine)s, which reimagines comic heroes in their female form, first shown at The Lakes International Comic Art Festival in 2018.

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