The 41st Helsinki Comics Festival will be held on the weekend of September 19–20, 2026. The free and open-to-all event will be organised for the first time at Cultural Centre Stoa in Itäkeskus! The festival’s theme for this year is “Together,” and the festival artist is Emilia Laatikainen, who is also responsible for the visual design of the event. On Friday, September 18th, the Kids’ Comics Fest will take place! You can read more about Kids’ Comics Fest in a separate press release.
Festival artist Laatikainen teaches comics as well as visual arts and admires birds. Currently, they are inspired by birds, black-and-white aesthetics, and the theme of shame. Laatikainen’s autobiographical work “Ei ois susta uskonu” won the Sarjakuva-Finlandia Award in 2024.
In line with the “Together” theme, the festival focuses on various forms of collaboration, which is reflected in both the programme and execution. Several artist collectives will participate—from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, and Slovenia—as well as artist pairs, showcasing different ways of working together. During difficult times, the importance of community and cooperation is emphasised.
The new location at Stoa also enables new forms of collaboration: the festival will utilise the surrounding spaces in its implementation. The nearby Itäkeskus library is among the partners. By bringing the event into the heart of Stoa’s regular visitors and other guests, we hope to attract new people interested in comics to join our community.
As always, the festival programme will include interviews with comic artists, panel discussions, workshops, exhibitions, and, of course, the publishers’ comics market. In collaboration with the Itäkeskus library, a manga corner will be organised this year, including a reading club, workshops, and Kahoot quiz games. Last year’s popular panel “Comic Book of My Life,” which followed a successful TV show format with comics experts discussing meaningful comics, will also be part of this year’s programme.
As is tradition, Helsinki Comics Festival will also feature Zine Fest, focusing on self-publications. The “Most Heavenly Zine” and the “Most Heavenly Web Comic” will be awarded again this year. The guest of honour at Zine Fest is the Erittäin salainen tissimerenneitoseura collective (The Top Secret Boob Mermaid Society), celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026.
Additional participants include the following comics collectives and artists: CBK (SE), Keski-Suomen Sarjakuvaseura, Kuš! Comics (LV), Kutikuti, Plenty, Pokuto, Stripburger (SI), Tusen Serier (SE), Wormgod (SE), Katja Tukiainen, Matti Hagelberg, Kaisa and Christoffer Leka, Iriini Kalliomäki, and Kiira Mukka. The guest list will be completed in the spring.
The full programme will be published closer to the event at sarjakuvafestivaalit.fi.
Come join us to experience and create comics!
More information and interview requests
Athanasía Aarniosuo
Artistic Director
athanasia.aarniosuo@sarjakuvaseura.fi
Ella Tahkolahti
Producer
info@sarjakuvafestivaalit.fi
The festival weekend is September 18–20, 2026. Cultural Centre Stoa will be open to the public on Friday from 9:30 am to 6 pm, Saturday from 10:30 am to 7 pm, and Sunday from 10:30 am to 6 pm. The event is free and open to all. The venue is wheelchair accessible. We follow principles of safer space at the event.