In November, Montreal French-language comics publisher Pow Pow Press initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the translation of its books to English. The crowdfunding campaign was a success, and the resulting first four titles will be launched this weekend at the Toronto Comic Arts Fair.

Q&Q spoke to Pow Pow editor Luc Bossé about the translations and the impact of Kickstarter on the press.

Why did you decide to start publishing translations? Pow Pow had reached a point where it needed to expand and tap into a new market. As a French-language publisher, our most obvious option was to score a distribution deal in France. But since I only had a few contacts in Europe, as well as an ocean to cross, I started thinking about the English-speaking market: the rest of Canada as well as the United States were actually closer, and since Montreal is a bilingual city it only felt natural to translate our books. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of people coming up to me during events, asking if they were available in English. I guess I just grew tired of telling them they weren’t. More.

Read the full interview in Quill & Quire here: http://www.quillandquire.com/book-culture/2015/05/07/qa-pow-pow-press-editor-luc-bosse-on-translating-comics-and-successful-crowdfunding/

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