Paul GRAVETT (UK)
Lecturer, broadcaster and exhibitions curator specialising in international comic art, Paul Gravett was nicknamed „The Man at The Crossroads” by Eddie Campbell and hailed by The Times of London as „the greatest historian of the comics and graphic novel form in this country.” He co-founded the influential British comics magazine Escape (1983-9), directed the Cartoon Art Trust (1992-2001) and since 2003 has organised Comica, the London International Comics Festival. He writes for the Times, Guardian, Independent, Times Literary Supplement, Art Review, Dazed & Confused, Comic Heroes and others and is the author of “Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics” (2004) and “Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life” (2005), co-author with Peter Stanbury of “Great British Comics” (2006) and “Incredibly Strange Comics” (2008) and editor of “The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics” (2008). His latest book is “1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die”, out in October. See http://www.paulgravett.com for more details.

Laurence HEYWORTH (UK
Laurence Heyworth is Managing Director of Look and Learn Ltd, a company that owns the rights to 16 classic British children’s educational magazines, including Look and Learn (1962-82). Out of this enormous archive of illustrations and comic strips, Look and Learn has created an online picture library which can be visited at http://www.lookandlearn.com. Images are available for commercial licensing and also for personal/educational use. While the focus of the business is on the picture library, Look and Learn has also published 48 issues of a magazine made out of the best of Look and Learn and a volume entitled “The Bumper Book of Look and Learn”. Prior to setting up Look and Learn Ltd in 2004, Laurence Heyworth worked for twenty years in investment banking in the City of London; and before that was a research student and lecturer in English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford.