Belgium's popular culture

Just back from the ECIS conference in Brussels where I met some very inspiring teachers and visited the fabulous Early Childhood Centre at the International School of Brussels. I talked about my research on the relationship between literacy and popular culture, amongst other things. It was therefore somewhat ironic that I didn't have time to visit the centre of Brussels in the glorious spring weather we had and so missed an exhibition titled '20 years of Manga in Europe' at the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art. This is such a good excuse to go back before the exhibition ends in June! Belgium has a long history of comic production and this is about to become even more widely celebrated now that Steven Spielburg is making a film about the 80-year-old character. Another reminder about the longevity of popular cultural icons...