Comic Book Club: Roaming (2023)
Join us for our first Comic Book Club event to discuss Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki’s Roaming (2023) and get a free copy of Roaming!
“Over the course of a much-anticipated trip to New York, an unexpected fling blossoms between casual acquaintances and throws a long-term friendship off-balance. Emotional tensions vibrate wildly against the resplendently illustrated backdrop of the city, capturing a spontaneous queer romance in all of its fledgling glory. Slick attention to the details of a bustling, intimidating metropolis is softened with a palette of muted pastels, as though seen through the eyes of first-time travelers. The awe, wonder, and occasional stumble along the way all come to life with stunning accuracy in this sumptuous softcover with gorgeous jacket.”
When: Wednesday, October 11 @ 1:30-2:30 PM
Hybrid: ASC Floor 2 and Zoom
Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki in Conversation
Join us for a conversation with Caldecott Medal-winning authors Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki on their forthcoming comic, Roaming (September 2023). Moderated by alum Emily Chou, MFA 2023.
Mariko Tamaki is a Canadian writer living in California. She is the co-creator of the graphic novels Skim and This One Summer with Jillian Tamaki, and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me with Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. She writes superhero comics for DC Comics, Darkhorse and Marvel. Mariko was the recipient of the Eisner for Best Writer in 2020. Collectively, her works have received Printz Honors, Eisner, Ignatz, Ringo and Prism awards. She is the curator of the Abrams LGBTQ imprint, Surely Books.
Jillian Tamaki is a cartoonist, illustrator, and educator raised in Calgary, Alberta. She is the author of the Eisner Award-winning graphic novels SuperMutant Magic Academy and Boundless, and the author-illustrator of two picture books, including most recently Our Little Kitchen. With her cousin Mariko Tamaki, she is the co-creator of the young adult graphic novels SKIM and This One Summer, which won a Governor General’s Award and Caldecott Honor. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.
When: Monday, October 16 @ 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Where: Dodson Room, IKBLC
Exams Under Anaesthesia (EUA) Symposium
Keynote Speaker: Rebecca Burgess
Rude Girl (2022) Panel
Participants Birgit Weyhe, German Graphic Novelist Priscilla Layne, Associate Professor, UNC-Chapel Hill Moderator Biz Nijdam, Assistant Professor, UBC
In 2018, Birgit Weyhe joined a room of German comics scholars at a GSA (German Studies Association) panel on diversity and inclusion in German-language comics to bear witness to a presentation by Dr. Brett Sterling that openly criticized her graphic novel Madgermanes (2016) for its representation of Blackness and cultural appropriation. While this commentary was far from welcome, it marked the start of the author’s journey in revaluating her power and privilege as a comics artist. Soon thereafter, Weyhe met Dr. Priscilla Layne, an Associate Professor of German Weyhe und Layne in Montreal Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill with Caribbean roots. Over the course of the next few years, Weyhe and Layne collaborated on the graphic novel Rude Girl (2022), which explores Layne’s life growing up in Chicago, experience of racism, and path to German studies, all the while interrogating what it means for a White artist to represent Black lives.
This panel will take the form of a conversation with the co-creators of Rude Girl, discussing Layne and Weyhe’s collaboration and the role of comics in intersectional explorations of Black identity.
This event is co-sponsored by the German Studies Association’s Comics Studies Network, the UBC Comic Studies Cluster, and the Department of Classics, Modern Languages, and Linguistics at Concordia University.
When: October 6th @ 4 PM, 2023
Where: Goethe-Institut Montreal & Online