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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
Miriam Katin: Coming To Terms
Posted: December 19, 2015
The Second World War has cast a long shadow over the life of Miriam Katin, born in Budapest in 1942. “The stories my mother told me about our life and survival and the fate of our family, they were always with me. A daily uninvited and unwanted presence.” Read my profile and interview with Miriam and her new two-page comic here…
Top 14 Best Graphic Novels for February 2016!
Posted: December 10, 2015
Welcome back, time to take a look through my next batch of PG Tips, all due out for February 2016. Sonny Liew’s extraordinary blending of biography, art book and national history is one stand-out and there are some great manga kicking off this month as well. Lots to explore, lots to enjoy, but if I am forced to choose to one, I am most intrigued by Mirror by Spanish writer-artist Emma Rios teaming up with sublime Malaysian artist Hwei Lim. Looks like some magic is abrewing here! Read my latest recommendations here…
What Girls Want: Shojo Manga Superstar Hanamura Eiko
Posted: December 4, 2015
On December 14th, 6.30-8pm, I am hosting ‘What Girls Want’, a special free evening at Foyles Bookshop in Charing Cross Road, London, offering you the rare chance to meet Shojo Manga pioneer Hanamura Eiko, as well as noted Associate Professor Masuda Nozomi from Konan Women’s University in Japan.
Professor Masuda will trace the origins of Shojo Manga, Japanese comics for girls, from their beginnings in girls’ magazine through to its more recent transformations, questioning what significance the genre has in Japanese society, and what it has been expressing over its diverse and complex themes. Then Hanamura Eiko will have a conversation with Masuda and me, looking into Hanamura’s work, reflecting on her illustrious career of over half a century in the Manga industry, and discussing the phenomenon of Shojo Manga and its impact on Japanese culture and beyond.
Presented by the Japan Foundation. Admission is free, but please RSVP to this link. See you there!
Meeting Barroux: Live Drawing Event at South Ken Kids Festival
Posted: November 13, 2015
Meet Barroux, the innovative French illustrator of the First World War French soldier’s memoir Line of Fire is among the guests at this year’s South Ken Kids Festival at the Institut Français in London. He will be talking with me at a special live-drawing event on Saturday November 21st. At an earlier Translation Machine event with translator Sarah Ardizzone, Barroux’s latest graphic novel Alpha: Abidjan-Gare du Nord. The story written by Bessora follows the journey of Alpha, a man from the Ivory Coast, who decides to leave his homeland and head for Paris without a visa in search of his family. This powerful tale from today’s headlines is being translated collaboratively during the Festival into English. Barroux will be discussing this with Sarah and me and demonstrating his drawing process and techniques in an exciting SKKF event Meeting Barroux from 4-4.45pm on Saturday afternoon - book your tickets here…
The Zoom! Show: Zoom Rockman’s Launch Party, Exhibition & Interview
Posted: November 9, 2015
To celebrate the launch of the 11th issue of The Zoom!, Westminster Reference Library off Leicester Square are holding The Zoom Show, a free exhibition of artwork, comics and Zoom-erabilia till November 21st. On Tuesday November 10th, Zoom will be talking to me about his passion for making and publishing comics starting from a very early age, his breakthrough into the pages of The Beano and what this fifteen-year-old Londoner has in mind for the future. Book your free place here and join us both from 6.30pm, interview starts 7.30pm.
Top 12 Best Graphic Novels for January 2016
Posted: November 8, 2015
Scrupulously and ruthlessly selected for your reading pleasure, here are my dozen top recommendations coming into stores starting in the New Year. American master and pioneer of the form, R.O. Blechman, returns with a major new work, joined by Starr and Drake’s French forays and the recent Kirby exhibition’s catalogue. Plenty more living, human comics to explore here, and my pick of the month is Tom Hart’s Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir. This extraordinary expression of fatherly love whose roots run deep and whose branches will never stop growing will make your spirit run free. Read my latest listing here…
Comica, CityRead & Barbican Library Bring You S.M.A.S.H.!
Posted: November 6, 2015
Come for an afternoon of spirited debate and discussion with makers, readers and critics of comics at the 2nd S.M.A.S.H. session as part of Comica 2015. I’ll be joining an impressive roster of panelists considering three thorny themes: criticism, stories and adaptation. It’s free and runs from 12.30 to 3.30pm at The Barbican Library. Check Comica.London website for more details and links…
Marcello Quintanilha: A Brazilian In Barcelona
Posted: October 29, 2015
In Brazil comics are commonly called quadrinhos or ‘little paintings’. Gaze into each panel of the comics of Marcello Quintanilha and you can see why, as they open onto vignettes of his country’s mixed society and mixed-up psyche. Born the son of a former football player and a schoolteacher in 1971 in Niterói, across the Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro, Quintanilho grew up in the city’s working-class Barreto neighbourhood. He has never forgotten his “permanent contact with things and values in total decay - shops and factories shutting down, old soccer fields closing, workers’ villages disfigured or abandoned, local festivities emptying year after year; everything that represented a more vital, promising and perhaps happier past seemed to be saying goodbye every day.” Read my new profile and interview and Quintanilha’s new Strip for ArtReview here…
Shojo Mangaka Superstar Akiko Hatsu at Lakes Comic Art Festival & British Museum
Posted: October 10, 2015
It is a rare honour to welcome to the UK one of Japan’s greatest authors of girls’ manga, Akiko Hatsu. I have the privilege and pleasure to interview her at two special events, the first at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal, Cumbria at 2.30-3.30pm in the Brewery Arts Centre Screen Two on Saturday October 17th (£8, book tickets here).
The second is a lunchtime talk 1.15-2.00pm on Tuesday October 20th in Room 92 at The British Museum (free, just drop in). Don’t miss the chance to meet this legendary creator on her first British visit, made possible with support from The Japan Foundation.
Ten Best Graphic Novels: December 2015
Posted: October 3, 2015
To celebrate the first ten years of this website, here are my latest Ten Best titles from upcoming releases starting in December 2015 - explore, discover and enjoy! Read my new Article here…
