Evens' Flemish publisher Oogachtend is about to release the third impression of 'Ergens waar je niet wil zijn'. That is unusual for a graphic novel and proves that quality and high sales figures are not mutually exclusive. Connoisseurs will discover two extra pages in this edition, which is as beautifully designed as the previous two. The Flemish Literature Fund (FLF) has been supporting Brecht Evens since the beginning of his career with working grants for the author and production support for Oogachtend.
Evens first visited the International Comic Festival in Angoulême in 2007, together with the FLF. Two years later, he was one of the twenty graphic novelists participating in the highly successful exhibition 'Ceci n'est pas la BD flamande', when Flanders was the guest country in Angoulême. Since then, Even's career has snowballed, with translations into French (Actes Sud, translated by Vaidehi Nota and Boris Boublil), German (Reprodukt, translated by Andrea Kluitmann) and English (Drawn and Quarterly, translated by Rhian Heppleston, Michele Hutchison en Laura Watkinson), supported by the FLF. Following the Canadian edition, Jonathan Cape, the comic imprint of the renowned publishers Random House, will be releasing a British edition. Contracts have been concluded for Spanish and Korean translations and negotiations are being held with various publishers for an Italian version. Early this year, 'Ergens waar je niet wil zijn' again attracted a lot of attention at the Angoulême International Comic Festival, where it won the Prix de l'Audace, an award for an experimental, daring graphic novel. Evens had already earlier won the Willy Vandersteen Prize in Belgium.
The sequel to 'Ergens waar je niet wil zijn' will be published this autumn. Expectations are high, but publisher Johan Stuyck is convinced they will be more than fulfilled.
