The 9th Galway Cartoon Festival returns from Friday, October 3 to Wednesday, October 8 2025, with a line-up featuring Palestinian artist Malak Mattar, comic book artist Gilbert Shelton, creator of Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and political cartoonists Jeff Danzinger and Belfast’s Ian Knox.
French cartoonists will be prominent at this year’s Festival, with the return of illustrator and graphic novelist Lucie Arnoux, who will host drawing workshops throughout the week. Camille Besse and Thibaut Soulcié will each give masterclasses on Press Cartoons at PorterShed a Dó, while Coralina Picos will be among the speakers at the Festival.
This year’s Featured Irish Cartoonist is Belfast’s Ian Knox. Editorial cartoonist for Northern daily The Irish News, Knox began his career drawing political cartoons for left-wing periodicals Red Weekly and Socialist Challenge.
Discussions will play a large part in the Galway Cartoon Festival programme. The Irish Times’ Frank McNally will chair Are We Still Charlie?, examining the responsibilities of cartooning and satire in an era where the Far Right have co-opted and weaponised the idea of Freedom of Speech, and asking whether French magazine Charlie Hebdo is still one to be followed.
Galway Cartoon Festival’s major exhibitions this year will take place in the Eyre Square Shopping Centre, with an array of artists depicting the world with horrifying humour and a solo exhibition from Berlin comic artist Andy Leuenberger.
As well as Galway city, the Festival also returns to its second home, Áras Éanna Arts Centre in Inis Oírr, Aran Islands, where the Irish language cartoon exhibition Tarraing É I nGaeilge will be on display. The Festival will also have cartoon workshops as Gaeilge for schools and pub drawing sessions.
Galway Cartoon Festival’s 2025 Programme will be launched on Tuesday, September 9, at 6 pm in Tigh Nora, No. 8 Cross Street, Galway. For more information, see galwaycartoonfestival.ie and check social media.
