On Saturday 14th March 2009, Insomnia Publications and C2D4 Comics visited the Shenfield and Harlow libraries to exhibit at the 10th annual Essex Book Festival.

Alasdair, Cy and Nic from Insomnia, plus Tony Wicks from C2D4 set up shop in both libraries, Shenfield in the morning, and Harlow in the afternoon.

As part of their exhibition a comic book challenge was issued to any willing participants, in the form of writing mini-stories, dialogue, and drawing comic book characters (please click HERE for the incredible results of the latter!). Visitors could enter 'Cages Consequences' which entailed writing a short story about two people trapped in a cage, and the likely repercussions of their forced partnership. They could also choose Crosshair's first words in the Cancertown graphic novel as written by Cy and lettered by Nic (please click HERE for more info). And finally they were invited to draw a character of heroic, villainous or monstrous proportions...or anything that took their fancy! By entering any or all of these, visitors were able to get a grasp of the various skills involved in the creation of a comic book.

Judging by the enthusiastic response from local budding artists and writers, the event was a great success. The good news is that because of its slightly unorthodox subject matter, which attracted new blood to the libraries, the libraries benefited from 3 new signings to their ranks, with people joining up off the back of their visit to our exhibitions.

As graphic novels gain acceptance (in no small part to the inclusion of well stocked graphic novel sections in all local Essex libraries) hopefully more creators will feel encouraged in publishing their own works. Judging from Saturday there is certainly a wealth of talent out there!

Insomnia's and C2D4's works will be making an appearance on library shelves very soon, so keep an eye out for Cancertown and (as soon as the graphic novel is finished!) Jack in the Box (please click HERE for more information).

Finally we would like to extend our thanks to all the library staff for making our visit there possible. Special thanks to Annastasia Ward, Robert Coelho, and Darren Smart for all their help and encouragement throughout the day.