From one border to the other

German-language literature is the guest of honour at the Foire du Livre, which takes place from 13 to 16 March in Tour & Taxis, Brussels. Under the motto ‘Wanderlust: Voyager à travers la littérature de la langue allemande’, 16 German-language authors, illustrators and spoken word artists from Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Austria will be travelling to Brussels. Together with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Goethe-Institut Brussels is inviting the German-language comic artist Mikael Ross, who will enter into a dialogue with the French-speaking Mathilde Van Gheluwe.

On both sides of a different language border, Germany and Belgium cultivate a mutually enriching artistic exchange. Two artists who met at art school discuss their respective creative practices. Between camaraderie and mutual influences, they explore what inspires them in each other's work. On one side, German-speaking Mikael Ross represents Germany, on the other Mathilde Van Gheluwe represents French-speaking Belgium. A discussion, moderated by Salva di Bennardo, which will address the challenges and dynamics of transculturality.

Mikael Ross will sign books afterwards. Mikael Ross (Munich, 1984) initially trained as a theatre tailor before moving to Berlin and concentrating on comics at the Berlin-Weißensee Art Academy. He self-published his first longer story, Herrengedeck, in 2008. During a year abroad at the Brussels School of Bande Dessinée, ESA Saint-Luc, he met the Belgian screenwriter and illustrator Nicolas Wouters. They shared a fascination for punk and subculture and began writing and drawing the graphic novel Les pieds dans le béton (2013) together. It talks about two restless young men in the Berlin squatter scene of the 1980s. The book was published in 2014 by avant-verlag under the title Lauter Leben!. In 2016, the coming-of-age story Totem was also published together with Nicolas Wouters. After two years of research, the illustrator dares to change perspective with his graphic novel Der Umfall (2018) and tells of the lows and highs of a young man with a mental disability. For this, he received the Max and Moritz Prize for the "Best German-language comic" in 2020. For the Beethoven year 2020, Ross created Golden Boy, an entertaining and authentic biography that portrays the youth of the classical music genius. In summer 2024, Der verkehrte Himmel was published, a heated thriller about a Vietnamese brother and sister who meet a kidnapped girl.