SPEAKERS 2025

RAKETA is intended especially for children from 6 to 12 years of age. It is published 4 times a year in thematic issues and contains no advertising. The magazine has been published since 2014 by Labyrint Publishing in cooperation with the Raketa dětem association. It is created by two editors-in-chief, Johana Švejdíková and Radana Litošová, together with a team of permanent authors and artists 

Juliana Hyrri is an Estonian-born visual artist, painter, cartoonist and illustrator whose work explores the intersection of language and expression. After studying Fine Arts in Helsinki her works has been included in several finish contemporary art museum’s collections. In 2023, she was honoured with the State Award by The National Council for Multidisciplinary Art, recognizing her impactful contributions to the Finnish contemporary comics and illustration scene.

Karla is a struggling comic book artist. She is Danish, but lives in Berlin, where she works at a flea market selling jewellery of dubious quality. In her daily life, she faces a multitude of bizarre situations: a visit from Herle, a nine-year-old girl, with whom she goes to steal Christmas food from a supermarket; the sighting of protective dragons; the gluttony of Dexter, the Italian dog with whom she shares a flat; an unpleasant encounter with a security guard in a supermarket... All Karla wants is to make comics and be left in peace, but the angels, or dragons, seem to have other plans for her.

In addition to all this, Karla is the editor of Hairspray Magazine, whose first issue was awarded the ‘Fauve a la Bande Desinée Alternative 2025’ prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Born in 1970 to an English father and a Swedish mother, Kitty Crowther grew up in Brussels. Despite being hearing impaired from birth, she was able to establish a unique path in children’s literature through writing and drawing. Passionate about the art of storytelling and also the creative process: its lines, its layouts, its very particular range of colours to arouse the feelings of readers throughout the pages. She often tackles so-called “difficult” themes.To date, Kitty has produced over forty books, translated into around thirty languages. She travels the world to give conferences, workshops for adults, for exhibitions, residencies, and to share her art through stage performances.She has been rewarded with important distinctions such as the Baobab Prize, the Libbylit Prize, and the Triennial Grand Prix for Youth Literature.In 2010, Kitty received the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature: the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA).

After studying political science, Lucile Ourvouai changed course to enrol at the Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg. During her studies, she founded the fanzine l'Ennui and became interested in micro-publishing in all its forms and in collective work. She developed a taste for serigraphy, which shaped her understanding and interpretation of colour. Currently, in addition to being a press illustrator, she is an editor and cultural manager in Marseille, involved in the field of comics and fanzines. She is particularly interested in micro-publishing, rarities and the female perspective in comics. She is behind two fanzines: L'Ennui and Fanatic Female Frustration, the latter of which won the independent publishing category at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2025.

Maite Caballero graduated in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country and then studied illustration in Barcelona. She usually does editorial illustration work, illustrated albums, posters, workshops, etc., but above all she has published drawings and comics in her own self-published publications or those of other groups of friends. Since 2014, she has been organising the Guillotina self-publishing fair in Donostia, together with cartoonists Paula Estévez and Mikel Larraioz. She is also part of the Tupust! comic collective. In 2019, she won the residency organised by the International Professional Illustration Meeting in Euskadi Irudika, and during the first months of 2024 she has been a resident at La Casa del Autor in Zapopan.

Athens Art Book Fair is an artist-run initiative aiming to bring together and showcase artist publications produced in Greece as well as to create a link with publishing-based artistic practices (print, online and else) internationally. It was founded in 2019 by Margarita Athanasiou and Michalis Pichler. Margarita Athanasiou is an artist and organizer based in Athens, Greece. Her practice is text-based, utilizes collage techniques and brings together autobiography and history to create multi-layered narratives in the form of publications, video essays, prints, memes and digital images.

Marika Maijala works across writing, illustration, visual arts and animation. She currently works in the Artists’ House on Harakka Island, Helsinki, and studies painting at Free Art School Helsinki. Her artistic practice draws from play, experiment, trial and error in the spirit of DIY. Marika’s main creative sources are the realm of narration, that she used to love as a child, as well as her relationships with other living and non-living creatures. Her versatile body of work includes picture books, art books, paintings, drawings, texts, animations, videos, installations and illustrations for public spaces.