(
Finnish:
Arktiset sarjakuvapäivät)
Held in
Kemin sarjakuvakeskus (The
Arctic Comic Center),
Kemi,
Finland in May, each year, the Arctic
Comic Festival has been running since 1981. It is a small, but growing,
gathering of
comic strip artists from all over the world.
There is a
competition open to artists from
the Nordic Countries, with about 200 entrants each year, and a total
prize fund of around 5000
euros, raised by subsidy from the
City, and the Finnish
Ministry of Education.
Artists such as
Neil Gaiman,
Norio Yamanoi and
Pierre Christin have graced the festival with their presence. In fact, the only continents which have never been represented are
Australia and
Antarctica.
The
Kemi Art Museum usually holds an
exhibition in conjunction with the festival, which can
attract many thousands of visitors.
The city of Kemi is
rightfully known as the comic capital of Finland; even producing their
official annual report in comic form on several occasions - the first being in 1986.
Source:
http://www.kemi.fi/sarjis/