Press Release

Our publisher and fearless leader, Annie Koyama, is a lover of art and comics and to kick off our 10th anniversary year she is sharing that love by donating a collection of more than 250 pieces of original artwork by contemporary American cartoonists to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Cartoonists represented in this collection include Lisa Hanawalt, Theo Ellsworth, Katie Skelly, Noah Van Sciver, Eleanor Davis, Dustin Harbin, Frank Santoro, Gabrielle Bell, Hellen Jo, Kevin Huizenga, and many more!

Annie picked the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum because of its focus on preserving and openly sharing the history of comics, and, in that spirit, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum has also confirmed an exhibition of the Koyama Collection to be on display May 6, 2018 – Sunday, October 21, 2018, coinciding with Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC). So if you are in the Columbus area, do swing by and peep some of the excellent pieces in the collection like the Tim Hensley piece above!

About the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum: The BICLM is one of The Ohio State University Libraries’ special collections. Its primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections.  The BICLM recently moved into its newly-renovated 30,000 sq. ft. facility that includes a museum with three exhibition galleries, a reading room for researchers and a state-of-the-art collections storage space.  The library reading room is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Museum is open Tuesday-Sunday from 1 – 5 p.m.  See http://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.

About Koyama Press: Founded in 2007, and celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2017, Koyama Press is a Toronto-based small press. Our mandate is to promote and support a wide range of emerging and established artists. Projects include comics, graphic novels, art books, and zines. We are known for our alternative edge and diverse range of titles that include a myriad of genres from autobiography to photography, from horror to humour, and more.