There are currently over 65 million forcibly displaced people in the world – the highest levels of displacement since records began. Documenting the experiences of refugees is a vital undertaking and one in which words alone can often fall short.

Cartoonist and activist, Kate Evans, drew on her time spent volunteering at the refugee camp in Calais to write Threads, a beautifully illustrated cartoon that reflects her experience and those of migrants in starkly moving scenes. Olivier Kugler was asked by Médecins Sans Frontières to create a series of drawings that would document the plight of Syrian refugees; his accessible, vivid work has brought their stories to a wider audience and earned him international illustration awards.

Majid Darjazi is himself an Iranian refugee and will share his personal experiences of this and his career as a cartoonist.

At this timely event, chair Joost Pollmann, Kate, Olivier and Majid will discuss whether it is true that words alone cannot do justice to the horrors of the refugee crisis and the importance of comics and graphic novels to this burning global issue.