I’ll be spending ten days in Algeria next month at the 2009 Festival International de la Bande Dessinee d’Alger, their national Comic Con.  I have to admit that I don’t know much about Algeria.  My travel agency, which has been in business for decades, tells me I’m the only traveler they have ever sent to Algeria – but it looks like Algeria is full of cartoon fans.  I’ve noticed that there seems to be special interest in editorial cartoons from all of the Arab countries.
Jan Eliot, who draws Stone Soup for Universal Press Syndicate, will also be in Algiers, along with a long list of cartoonists from exotic locales around the world – cartoonists so exotic that I’ve only heard of one of them, Tayo Fatunla, the Nigerian editorial cartoonist from our site, who blogged about last year’s Festival in Algiers and who actually lives in England. Â Here is a list of the cartoonists attending the event – please leave a comment if you have heard of any of them.
I’ll be giving at least a couple of seminars in Algiers and fans are welcome to come by and say hello.  I’ll be on a panel of cartoonists talking about “Comics in the Cinema” at 2 pm October 15 at L’Esplanade de l’OREF in Algiers and I’ll give another seminar about my own work.  I’ll blog and Tweet from Algiers and I’ll post more information on where I’ll be at the Festival soon.
