The Polish Book Institute

Anna Krztoń and Giorgia Marras received invitations to one-month creative residencies as part of the third edition of the joint residency programme for comics artists run by two UNESCO Cities of Literature - Krakow and Angoulême. Both residencies will take place this summer.

Giorgia Marras is an Italian illustrator and cartoonist currently living in Angoulême. Her comics Munch before Munch and Sissi,Une femme au-delà du conte de fées (“Sissi, a Woman Beyond the Fairy Tale”) have been translated into several languages. She is currently working with New York screenwriter Julian Voloj on a biography of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe for Steinkis Publishing.

Anna Krztoń is a Polish cartoonist currently living in Warsaw. Her autobiographical comics Weź się w garść (”Buck Up!”) and Życie i wczasy. 2012-2017 (”Life and Holidays 2012-2017) have won acclaim from readers and critics (including an award for best script at the Komiksowa Warszawa (Warsaw of Comics) Festival). During the 12^th Krakow Comics Festival, she celebrated 10 years of creative work.

The call for applications was aimed at artists who have made their comics debut, are associated with Krakow or Angoulême, and are actively involved in comics-related initiatives. The residencies aim to support young artists by providing them with favourable conditions to devote themselves to their creative work for a month.

The initiative is part of the year-long literary residency programme of the UNESCO City of Literature in Krakow. The strategic partners of the programme are Krakowskie Stowarzyszenie Komiksowe (Krakow Comics Association), which is responsible for the residency in Krakow, and Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l'image, which oversees the residency in Angoulême.