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Comics @ UF

2024

2024 GCO Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels
Ink and Imagination: Exploring Children’s Comics

From April 5th-7th, UF’s Graduate Comics Organization will be hosting its 20th annual Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels, “Ink and Imagination: Exploring Children’s Comics” in Gainesville, Florida. All events are free and open to the public.

The conference will feature talks on children’s comics by both cartoonists and scholars and will bring international scholars together with local experts. Some highlights include a visit to see rare children’s comics held in UF’s Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature and Popular Culture collections, two keynote addresses, and a mini comics/zine fest organized in collaboration with the Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW), Gainesville’s own grassroots comics school.

 

Advertising flyer for the 2024 Graduate Comics Organization conference. Illustrated clouds contain the text: academic panels, workshops, and keynote addresses by Andre Frattino & Alison Halsall. The conference date is also listed as April 5th to 7th, 2024, and a contact email address for GCO is provided: GCO@english.ufl.edu

 

2024 CALL FOR PAPERS

2024 CALL FOR PAPERS 

Full CFP available to read here

SCHEDULE

Full schedule with panels available to read here

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

André Frattino
Friday, April 5th, 5pm in Ustler Hall Atrium

Andre Frattino is a professional illustrator and storyteller, having worked in a variety of mediums, from published graphic novelist to ghost tour guide to reality television and podcast personality. He is the creator of the Florida-focused graphic novel series, The Flagler’s Few, (published through Pineapple Press) and will be presenting a keynote on his comic entitled A Land Remembered: A Graphic Novel, an adaptation of Patrick Smith’s novel surrounding a family in the 1850s to 1960s Florida frontier. A Land Remembered won the 2018 Florida Book Award.

Alison Halsall
Saturday, April 6th, 5pm in Ustler Hall Atrium

Alison Halsall specializes in Victorian and modernist literatures, with a particular emphasis on Visual Cultures, which includes the study of paintings and illustrations, contemporary film, comics and graphic novels. She co-edited the first-ever collection, The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader (UP Mississippi 2022), which recently won the Eisner Award for Best Academic / Scholarly Work. Her current monograph project, Growing Up Graphic: The Comics of Children in Crisis, an examination of the lived experiences of young people as represented in comics culture, was just published by The Ohio State University Press (2023).

TRAVEL

We recommend flying into Gainesville Regional Airport (GNV). Other airports close to Gainesville are Jacksonville International (JAX) and Orlando International (MCO).

Gainesville has Uber and Lyft. Here are some additional taxicab services:

  • Gator Taxi Cab: (352) 336-8484
  • Safety Cab: (352) 372-1444

GETTING AROUND CAMPUS

Our opening event on the afternoon of Friday, April 5, will be held in Smathers Library Room 100 (ground floor) with all of the following events held in the Ustler Hall Atrium (on the second floor of the building). Here’s a partial map of the UF campus with our event locations marked out:

Partial map of campus with meeting locations circled

FOOD

If you are looking for food options near campus, there are plenty of on- and off-campus options available that are walking distance from Ustler Hall. Off-campus options are near or along University Avenue. Here are a few suggestions:

  • CAVA: 1404 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL (Healthy and vegan options)
  • Just Salad: 1404 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL (Healthy and vegan options)
  • Bento: 150 NW 13th St Suite 60, Gainesville, FL (Japanese food)
  • DJ’s Cast Iron Burgers: 1542 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL (food truck with burgers, fries)
  • The Reitz Union Food Court on campus: 118 Reitz Union Drive, Gainesville, FL (Subway, Shake Smart, Starbucks, The Market, Panda Express)
  • Sweet Berries at Newell Hall on campus: 1700 Stadium Rd, Gainesville, FL (sandwiches, salads, frozen custard)

CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS

  • Chief Organizer – Sophia Pan, President, Graduate Comics Organization
  • Co-Organizer – Karen Libby, Vice President, Graduate Comics Organization
  • Co-Organizer – Kaylee Lamb, Treasurer, Graduate Comics Organization
  • Co-Organizer – Judy Colindres, Secretary, Graduate Comics Organization
  • Co-Organizer – Dr. Margaret Galvan, Advisor

Email: gco@english.ufl.edu

SPONSORS

  • UF English Department
  • The Dortort Foundation Fund for Comic Studies
  • UF’s Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature
  • Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW)