Skopje, 8 June 2024 (MIA) — Italian comic authors Roberto Recchioni and Andrea Accardi will appear as special guests of the two-day Strip Trip comic book festival opening Saturday evening at the MKC and featuring Italy as the country in focus.

With the support of the Italian Embassy, they will take part in a forum promoting the first book of their comic series Chanbara translated into Macedonian and published by Bunker.

Recchioni is known for his work on many comic series in Italy, the best known of which is Dylan Dog. For ten years he was also the editor-in-chief of Sergio Bonelli, Italy's greatest comics publisher.

Accardi has worked on several comic series and is best known for the Western comic Tex Wheeler, the longest-running and most popular comic in Italy, published since 1949.

Strip Trip, which is taking place for the second time, will also put on display works by Macedonian comic authors and present awards.

The Macedonian Comic Heritage award will be presented to Mile Topuz, and the Macedonian Comic Future award will presented to the winner of the Samurai in Your City competition that received over 60 submissions by young authors from ten cities.

A three-member panel of judges consisting of Osten Gallery director Kornelija Konevska, Italian Ambassador Andrea Silvestri, and MakStripovi illustrator Zdravko Girov will choose the winner of the Macedonian Comic Future award.

On Sunday, the festival will offer comic book launches by the Macedonian comic authors Vladimir Bogojevikj, and Gaja Smilevska, and Damjan Mihailov as well as a workshop for young comic artists.

Strip Trip was held for the first time in 2023, when the country in focus was Serbia. mr/