Daniela Olejnikova’s trip in Europe

Transbook: you took part in the artist mobility programme, where did you go and what did you do?
Daniela: My first destination was Montreuil Children’s Bookfair (France), where I did two workshops with children and attended meetings with french publishers. Next stop was the Saarbrucken Bookfair in Germany  - again with two workshops from me. The last destination was the ELCAF (East London Comics & Arts Festival) in London, where I had a hour-long talk about my work.

What have you learned from this experience?
It was really great to communicate with children from other countries. I have learned to express things more clearly. Also ELCAF was a big experience for me. I was preparing my talk for quite a long time, it was about cleaning my head and constantly thinking about what is important for my work.

In which way is it important for your career?
For me, illustrating is solitary process, so I really appreciated the opportunity to travel more, meet new people and see inspirational places and books. This whole programme was a big ’kick’ for my work and for me as a person. I was used to do networking on internet, but it is totally different to meet people which I admire face to face. During these trips I collected lots of contacts of publishers and artists, and some of them already opened new doors for me.