Discussion: inspiration and role models

Aimee de Jongh (1988, she/her) is an award-winning graphic novel author and animator from the Netherlands, whose books are published in more than 30 countries. With roots in the Dutch-Indies, history, migration and human relations are recurring topics in her work.

At the age of 22, Aimee’s career in comics took off with the daily comic strip Snippers for the Dutch paper Metro, which ran for five years. At 25, she published her first graphic novel The Return of the Honey Buzzard, which won the Prix Saint-Michel and was adapted to a live-action film. Her international breakthrough came when Blossoms in Autumn was released, written by Belgian comic author Zidrou. In 2019, Aimee created the autobio TAXI!.

In 2021, Aimee’s most well known graphic novel was released: Days of Sand. The Eisner-nominated book about the Dust Bowl was a bestseller. In 2022 Sixty Years in Winter followed, written by Ingrid Chabbert. In September 2024, her graphic novel adaptation of Lord of the Flies was published in more than 25 countries. A large retrospective of her work was exhibited in the Kunsthal, Rotterdam, in 2024. She published short comics in the magazines Spirou, Metal Hurlant and Fluide Glacial.

Lauraine Meyer is a French graphic novelist and illustrator based in the Netherlands. She studied illustration and graphic design in Paris. Committed feminist, she questions gender norms and sexism with humor and a colorful and joyful style. Her main goal is to make complicated subjects more digestable in order to be accessible to everyone.

After a career as art director in advertising, she published Feminists in Progress in 2022, Moi, j’aurais pas fait comme ça in 2024 and Mecs in Progress in 2025. Feminists in Progress is available in Dutch.

Nova de Hoo is a comic artist who wants to preserve the traditional elements of fun and irony in her comics, whilst also addressing social issues with care and sensitivity. She knows this is quite a difficult cocktail, and she doesn’t think she’ll ever fully get there!

She loves comics with her whole heart. Just like animation they are so incredibly concrete, and there’s no need to discuss a good comic because you don’t have to guess what it’s trying to convey, it’s just right there on the page.

As someone who is incredibly bad with abstraction and subjectivity, she loves the down-to-earth vibe that comics have. Currently she is writing a fictional story based on experiences she’s had in South Africa, hanging out with sex workers in Johannesburg and in doing so learning a bit about their struggles and dreams. In general she is drawn to feminist themes, and loves to write a little about her own experiences as a gay woman.