2021 UF Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels
Comics in Community
On May 28-30th, UF will be hosting its 17th annual Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels, “Comics in Community,” in a hybrid digital format.
Format
This year’s all-digital format is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and welcomes all our communities to come together over Zoom. Our hybrid format invited accepted presenters from the COVID cancelled 2020 conference to submit a blogpost version of their paper, hosted by ImageTexT, and, if they wish, participate in a panel discussion with other presenters. We will also host three live keynote speeches over Zoom.
Blog Posts
Blog posts are hosted on the ImageText website; see here.
Schedule
Panels will run from 10am-6pm on Saturday, via zoom.
See a full schedule and register to attend panels here
Keynote Speakers
Keynotes and workshops are hosted by the Civic Media Center, a community art and education space in Gainesville, which generously shared their zoom account. All conference events, including keynotes and workshops, are free and open to the public, but registration is required.
dr. andré carrington
Friday, 5/28, 6pm. Zoom registration here.
andré carrington is a scholar of race, gender, and genre in Black and American cultural production. He is currently Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Riverside. His first book, Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (Minnesota, 2016) interrogates the cultural politics of race in the fantastic genres through studies of science fiction fanzines, comics, film and television, and other speculative fiction texts.
He is past recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and the Penn Humanities Forum at the University of Pennsylvania (now the Wolf Center for Humanities). Recently, with Abigail De Kosnik, he has co-edited a special issue of Transformative Works & Cultures journal on Fans of Color/Fandoms of Color.
Dr. carrington’s writing appears in journals (American Literature, Souls, and Lateral), books (After Queer Studies: Literature, Theory, and Sexuality in the 21st Century, The Blacker the Ink, A Companion to the Harlem Renaissance, Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call), and blogs (Black Perspectives). He is also a contributor to the collections Digital Pedagogies in the Humanities and Keywords for Comics Studies, and one of the founders of the Queers & Comics international conference.
Leela Corman
Saturday, 5/29, 6pm. Zoom registration here.
Leela Corman is an illustrator and cartoonist. She is the illustrator of numerous books, record covers and an illustrator who has worked for the New York Times and more. She drew the covers to The Mountain Goats’ Beat the Champ and Goths. She self-published three issues of her minicomic, Flimflam, before winning a 1999 Xeric Grant to publish her first graphic novel, Queen’s Day. Her latest graphic novel, Unterzakhn, has been nominated for the L.A. Times Book Award, the Eisner Award, and Le Prix Artemisia. Unterzakhn has been translated into French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, and Italian, and won the Best Anglo-American comic at the Rome Festival. She is a contributor to Nautilus Magazine, The Nib, Tablet Magazine, Symbolia, and The OC Weekly. She has illustrated books on topics that range from urban gardening to the history of the skirt. Her editorial clients include PBS, the New York Times, and BUST Magazine. Leela is represented by Wales Literary Agency.
Board of the Sequential Artists’ Workshop
Sunday, 5/30, 3pm. Zoom registration here
The Sequential Artists Workshop is a 501 (c)3 non-profit grassroots comics school and creative community. SAW teaches people how to tell stories and make comics in Gainesville, Florida, USA, and around the world via online courses and resources.
In 2011, acclaimed indie cartoonist Tom Hart founded SAW to help aspiring cartoonists from all backgrounds, identities, and walks of life to make great comics. SAW’s Comics Intensive is high-quality, very affordable alternative to expensive art schools.
In addition to a enthusiastic, supportive community of artists, resources at SAW’s headquarters in Gainesville, FL include studio space, a well-stocked comics reference library, printing materials, access to exhibition spaces and first-rate instructors armed with knowledge, talent, experience and generosity of spirit. SAW brings celebrated cartoonists from around the world to Gainesville to lecture, teach workshops, and exhibit their work.
SAW hosts art shows, draw jams, talks, and other events, helping to make Gainesville a vibrant oasis of creativity in the region.
Workshop
Let’s Make a Zine with remus jackson
Sunday, 5/30, 1pm. Zoom registration here
remus is a zinester and cartoonist and a current phd student at UF working on trans comics. In this workshop, participants will learn about zines, self-published booklets of art and/or writing, and make a zine of their own. Please bring pencils, paper, and any other art-making materials, like collage materials, tape, and glue, which you would like to use.
Tribute to Don Ault
Roundtable remembering the legacy of Dr. Don Ault
Scholars working on fields including comics studies will discuss the legacy of Dr. Don Ault, a key figure in the history of the field and of the UF comics program in particular. Register for the roundtable using the panel link, here.
Conference Organizers, Sponsors, and Collaborators
Our conference was organized by the Graduate Conference Organization.
2021 Officer Cohort: Lillian Martinez, Erika Rothberg, & Fi Stewart-Taylor. Contact email: gco@english.ufl.edu
We are grateful for sponsorship and support from the UF English Department, ImageTexT, The Rose and David Dortort Foundation, Xerographics Copy Center, the Center for Humanities in the Public Sphere, and the Civic Media Center, which generously donated use of their Zoom account.
Other invaluable organizational contributions made by ImageTexT staff, including Ayanni Cooper and Bri Anderson, our faculty advisor, Dr. Anastasia Ulanowicz, English department staff, including Lynn Harris and Melissa Davis, and the UF IT department. Without the labor of graduate assistants, faculty and staff, this conference would not be possible.
This conference was organized in part by members of Graduate Assistants United, the labor union which represents graduate assistants at the University of Florida. The University Works Because We Do!
