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  • Michel Kichka at the ILB

Berlin

Michel Kichka at the ILB

Israeli Belgian-born graphic novelist Michel Kichka discusses his critically acclaimed book Second Generation: Things I Haven’t Told My Father in the English-language lecture “The past as present” on Graphic Novel Day at 12:00 on Sep 13.

Image for Michel Kichka at the ILB
Photo courtesy of the Israeli Cartoon Museum (Wikimedia Commons)

After making countless children’s books, the Israeli Belgian-born graphic novelist returned to his own childhood with the critically acclaimed Second Generation: Things I Haven’t Told My Father. Reminiscent of Maus, black and white illustrations tell the story of Kichka’s relationship with his father, a Holocaust survivor. He’ll discuss it in the English-language lecture “The past as present” on Graphic Novel Day at 12:00 on Sep 13.

When/where: At home or on journeys – in airports, in planes, trains, hotel rooms or cafés.

Writing aids: Time. Good coffee. A4 or A5 paper – no lines, I hate lines! A good pen. I can’t think at my laptop – and I type with two fingers like a Stone Age man.

Defining literary moment: Reading my first comics as a child: Belgian classics like Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe, Lucky Luke, Johan et Pirlouit, Tintin… The Little Prince made me cry the first time it was read to us at a holiday camp.

Back-up plan: Cooking or gardening.

What you’d like to be remembered for: I’m more interested in the process than the result. Each text, each drawing is like a piece of me. I guess some idle archaeologist could piece them together after my death – like a jigsaw puzzle, they’d make a full picture.

Shoe size: 43.5 (summer), 43 (winter).