Cambridge Comic Jam, free kids comic festival, on this weekend
Cambridge Comic Jam, a new free kids’ comics festival takes place at The Hub on Cambridge Biomedical Campus this Saturday, 17th October 2026, with Bloomsbury author/artist Sheena Dempsey and The Phoenix comic’s Robert Deas on the guest list.
Families can draw and create with local artists, discover graphic novels in the Story Lounge, buy and pick up free comics, meet creators and enjoy book signings throughout the day. The festival also features workshops from children’s comic creators Sheena Dempsey, creator of the hit book series, Pablo and Splash, Beccy Blake, the creator of Chicken Hill, Robert Deas and Russ Daff, the Festival’s Director and Founder, who’s also creator of Tales of the Emotosphere, a graphic novel published last year by ZunTold.
While the workshop tickets are now booked up, no ticket is needed for the main festival – just turn up and join the Comic Jam!
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from local families, with all four creator workshops booking up in a day,” Russ, who dropped us a line this morning, tells us. “We think we’re only the third dedicated kids comic festival in the UK, after Yo Comics in London and Phoenix Fest in Oxford.”
In the National Year of Reading, this festival is aiming to encourage a love of reading and to support reluctant readers to read for pleasure.
“At a time when children’s reading for pleasure has fallen dramatically, comics are bucking the trend according to the National Literacy Trust,” says Russ. “They found that children age 8-18 who read comics are nearly twice as likely to enjoy reading as children who don’t.”
• Cambridge Comic Jam | 10.00 am – 3.30pm Saturday 17th October 2026, The Hub, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Francis Crick Avenue | Event Details Here | <a href="http://I%E2%80%99m%20sharing%20a%20what3words%20address%20to%20help%20you%20find%20this%20specific%20location.%20Tap%20to%20see%20exactly%20where%20it%20is:%20///hoot.sleepy.tender%20https://w3w.co/hoot.sleepy.tender” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Find the venue here on What3Words
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who MagazineandOverkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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