SPLAT! A Graphic Novel Symposium (NYC, Saturday, March 15, 2008)

I just received this press release from the organizers of SPLAT! This looks to be a wide-ranging and informative event. Perhaps I'll see some of you there...

SPLAT! A Graphic Novel Symposium will take place on Saturday, March 15 at the New York Center of Independent Publishing (NYCIP) in Manhattan, with keynote speaker Scott McCloud. The NYCIP is a non-profit educational program (part of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen) dedicated to promoting and supporting independent publishers across the United States.

We welcome writers, artists, publishers, agents, new readers and long-standing comics fans alike to learn more about the fastest growing movement in publishing and meet some of the best creators working in the medium today!

The SPLAT! Symposium will also supply prospective creators with a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to be a graphic novelist. There will be three different tracks of panels, seminars, and workshops, followed by the SPLAT! Reception with Scott McCloud.

The panels will be led by a number of key writers, editors and artists from the graphic novel world including: Jim Killen, buyer Barnes & Noble; David Saylor, Editor Scholastic; Raina Telgemeier, artist, The Baby-Sitters Club; Ted Rall, creator, Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists; CB Cebulski, writer/editor, Marvel Comics; Bob Mecoy, Founder, Bob Mecoy Literary Agency; R. Sikoryak, creator, The Seduction of Mike; Brian Wood, creator, Demo, DMZ and Local; Nick Bertozzi, creator, The Salon; and Charles Brownstein, executive director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Please visit www.nycip.org/graphicnovelsymposium to register for this unique event.

CFP: Out of the Gutter: Essay Collection on Comics and Graphic Novels

Posted on behalf of Dan Hassler-Forest. Note the impending deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2008.

Out of the Gutter:
Collection on Comics and Graphic Novels

Over the course of the past two years, there has been a marked increase of academic interest in comic books and graphic novels, from a cultural theory perspective as well as from the fields of media studies and literature. However, there have been surprisingly few book-length studies on this topic published from any of these disciplinary perspectives. Hence, while Scott McCloud’s groundbreaking book Understanding Comics raised public and academic interest in this under-theorized and challenging medium, and helped to theorize the medium-specific qualities of sequential pictorial narratives, his book suspends the question of how specific disciplinary perspectives might be engaged.

This new interdisciplinary collection will bring together the work of scholars writing about comic books and graphic novels. Our collection of essays from a wide selection of academic perspectives will not only demonstrate the far-reaching influence of this exciting medium across disciplines, but it will also make this still-controversial subject accessible to a wider scholarly audience of teachers and students alike. Abstracts (1000 words) are welcome for, but not limited to, the following proposed chapters:

1. Origin stories: The history and development of the genre


2. What we talk about when we talk about comics: Theory and terminology


3. "Out of the gutter": Graphic novel adaptations


4. Men in tights?: Superheroes in the graphic novel


5. Drawing history: Non-fiction in graphic novels

Please submit abstracts and/or full-length papers (±5000 words) no later than 15 February 2008 to:

Dan Hassler-Forest, University of Amsterdam, Dep. Media Studies, Turfdraagsterpad 9, 1012 XT Amsterdam, The Netherlands - d.a.hassler-forest [at] uva.nl

Dr. Joyce Goggin, University of Amsterdam, Dep. English Literature, Spuistraat 210, 1012 VT Amsterdam, The Netherlands - j.goggin [at] uva.nl