Ed note: 49 Writers is pleased to be a small sponsor of this tiny comic-con. Read on to hear from Alaska Robotics owner, Pat Race about opportunities to and study with the many authors, artists, writers, and songwriters that the conference draws to Juneau. See you there!
Juneau’s tiny-sized comic convention takes place this Saturday at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center, and it’s a great opportunity for local writers of all stripes to learn and be inspired. Next to other comic conventions, it’s a comparatively small event but the guest list boasts Eisner Award winners, Caldecott Medal & Honor recipients, and Academy Award-nominated filmmakers. This year, we’re bringing in more than 40 visiting artists to town from as far away as Australia.
Here’s a selection of workshops taking place during the day that may be of interest to writers:
Saturday, April 28th at KTOO 360 Studio
11am – 12pm ~ Making Children’s Books
w/ Jon Klassen, Andy Runton & Michaela Goade
Caldecott Medal recipient, Jon Klassen will lead a discussion on making children’s books. Klassen will be joined by Andy Runton, creator of “Owly” and Juneau illustrator Michaela Goade.
12pm – 1pm ~ Art Imitates Life w/ Raina Telgemeier & Vera Brosgol
Raina and Vera have both created excellent autobiographical graphic novels about their childhood experiences, come learn about their work and the art of sharing a personal experiences & stories. Raina is the author of “Smile” and “Ghosts.” Vera is the author of “Be Prepared” and “Anya’s Ghost.”
Lucy Bellwood is an adventure cartoonist who writes about tall ships and personal demons. Ben Hatke is a cartoonist adventurer known for “Zita the Spacegirl” and “Mighty Jack.”
Saturday, April 28th at KTOO Conference Room
1pm – 2pm ~ Publishing Chat w/ C. Spike Trotman, David Malki! & Anne Bean | Ever wondered how the various aspects of the publishing industry work? This is a great group to chat with and learn from. Malki! is an expert designer and self publisher, Anne Bean works with Emerald Comics Distro to wholesale indie comics, and Spike is the largest comics publisher in Chicago and has raised over a million bucks on Kickstarter.
2pm – 3pm ~ Songwriting w/ Marian Call, Molly Lewis & Seth Boyer
Work with these accomplished musicians to write a song from scratch and learn a bit about their approach to music in the process.
4pm – 5pm ~ Writing Time w/ Ryan North & Molly Muldoon
Come hangout and write! Ryan & Molly will talk about their process, their work and maybe lead some little writing exercises. It’s casual. A great chance to ask questions of these comics authors about the art of writing for non-motion pictures.You can find the whole schedule on our web site.
If you enjoy these kind of things, you might also be interested in our artist retreat, a three day comics camp that begins immediately following the convention. You can register to receive updates for next year’s camp today.
Here’s a video about comic camp: