Siglufjörður comics festival returns for third year
Saturday 12th September 2026 on 23:01 in
Iceland
The Siglufjörður Comics Festival, believed to be the world’s northernmost, has opened for the third time, mbl.is reported.
The festival was created by Greek comics creator and visual artist Lefteris Yakoumakis, who first visited Siglufjörður in 2013 and has lived there permanently since 2020.
Yakoumakis said the town’s comics history made it a fitting location for the event, even though it has few comics creators.
“The story goes that the Siglufjörður printing house was the first to print and publish comics in Icelandic in the 1950s, I think, so I feel it is important to keep that history alive,” he said.
For the past three years, the festival has included a small exhibition about the Siglufjörður printing house, organised by visual artist Örlygur Kristfinnsson. Yakoumakis said many visitors had not known about the connection between the printing house and the town.
He also pointed to the popularity of comics in Iceland, recalling that Donald Duck was initially published in Iceland only in Danish. He said comics could help improve children’s reading comprehension by encouraging them to read more.
Yakoumakis said he wanted to create a meeting place for comics creators, as is common at festivals abroad, particularly in France and Belgium, where the comics tradition is strong. He said he was certain the Siglufjörður festival was the world’s northernmost comics festival.
The festival opened on Friday with an exhibition at Söluturninn Gallery, featuring Psychedelia for Morons by Fannar Örn Karlsson and Myrkva, an exhibition by the Icelandic Comics Community.
On Saturday, international guest Christopher Steininger was scheduled to give a lecture on collaboration between artists in comics at the Town Hall Hall. The Artists’ Market was then due to open at the same venue, with participating artists displaying their work and meeting visitors. The exhibition about the Siglufjörður printing house is also on show there.
On Sunday, Ursula Murray Hused will lead a comics-making workshop for children. The festival will close with a lecture by comics creator Jean Antoine Posocco, titled An Idea Becomes Reality, about how young artists can promote themselves in the field.