What are YOU doing to celebrate Brazilian National Comic Book Day?

Here's what Belo Horizonte, home of the biggest Comic Convention in the Americas, has planned:

Tomorrow, January 30th, Brazil celebrates National Comic Book Day. And the city of Belo Horizonte, commemorates the date with their event “9th National Comic Book Day”, under the coordination of the National Cultural Comic Association(Associação Cultural Nação HQ), to take place in the New Sales Cultural Center(Centro Cultural Venda Nova).

The activities start at 2 PM. Those who visit the cultural center will also have the opportunity to see the exposition :Fantastic Journey to the World of the Yesteryear, with 20 selections that will track the first comic stories with works from Joseph Franz von Goz (Lenardo and Blandine- The first graphic illustrated novel in 1783), Rudolph Topffer (The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck- published in Paris in 1837 with captioned cartoon panels), Wilhelm Busch (Max and Moritz, 1865 German illustrated story), Angelo Agostini (The Adventures of Nhô Quim, 1869, Brazil) and American Richard Outcault (The Yellow Kid, 1894).

Another exposition is Comic Book Icons, where artists portray comic characters that have some special meaning for them. Ivan Costa, member of the curation team of the International Festival of Comics of Belo Horizonte (FIQ), provided the project development.

The 9th National Comic Book Day has the support of Studio A4, Black Ink Studios, Illustrator Portal, Nanquim Studios, Academic Boardmember Carlos Drummond de Andrade from the Federal Univeristy of Minas Gerais(UFMG)’s College of Arts and the city of Belo Horizonte, through the Belo Horizonte Municipal Foundation of Culture.

All the activities are free and open, without the need to sign up, but subject to capacity restrictions.

Here is the list of activities:

2 PM- Script Workshop :He died, now what?

 4 PM- Workshop: Small doses of Comics 

7 PM- Comic book artists and fans meetup

 8 PM: Musical presentation: O Monomotor Band plays

(Original article Belo Horizonte Comemora o Dia do Quadrinho Nacional written by Samir Naliato on January 29th, 2014. Translated and reprinted with permission from Universo HQ)

This celebration seems a lot more focused on a day of remembrance and preserving the past rather than focusing on the "Now" like Sao Paulo's Angelo Agostini Awards. Two great events celebrating the long and diverse history of comics.