Matt Madden, photo by R.Carter Studios.
Final frames — bold voices shaping the future of graphic literature.
Join us for an evening celebrating the power of visual storytelling as part of our Literary Cabaret series, featuring the Comics & Graphic Novels Residency at Banff Centre. This final showcase brings together original works from resident artists, spanning the deeply personal to the wildly imaginative through comics, zines, and graphic narratives. Short artist talks and readings from works-in-progress will offer a glimpse into creative process, character development, and illustrated storytelling in all its forms.
Hosted by Matt Madden – cartoonist and translator known for playful and inventive works like Ex Libris and 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style. A member of Oubapo (Workshop for Potential Comics), Madden was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2013. His work includes translations, textbooks, and award-winning editorial projects, and has been published internationally. He will guide the evening, read from his own work, and share the stage with the residency’s artists.
Enjoy a drink from the bar, browse a curated selection of books at Pages Books, and immerse yourself in the vibrant literary atmosphere. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. Stay after and mingle with artists and faculty until 9:30 p.m.
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Matt Madden
Matt Madden is a cartoonist and translator who has also taught in art schools around the world. He is known for his playful and inventive comics like the metafictional romp Ex Libris and 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style (Penguin), a comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style which led to his initiation into Oubapo, The Workshop for Potential Comics, in 2005. In 2013 he was named Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. He has also done translations from the French and Spanish, including Aristophane's The Zabîme Sisters (First Second) and Edmond Baudoin’s Piero (New York Review Comics). He wrote two comics textbooks in collaboration with his wife, Jessica Abel, and the couple were series editors for The Best American Comics from Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt for six years. From 2012 to 2016, he and his family did a four-year residency in Angoulême, France at La Maison des Auteurs. They are currently living in Philadelphia where he is doing translations and working on new comics when he’s not looking after his kids or playing guitar.
Photo credit: R. Carter Studios