On August 30 at the Washington Convention Center, the Library of Congress held the 2014 National Book Festival. The convention featured panels on graphic novels and such speakers as Raina Telgemeier, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Vivek Tiwary, Kyle Baker, Liza Donnelly, and Jeff Smith. Gene Luen Yang also spoke earlier in the day.
Here’s photos from the festival.
For the second year in a row, the Small Press Expo (SPX) is a sponsor of the National Book Festival, presented by the Library of Congress. As a part of this sponsorship, SPX is bringing Gene Luen Yang, Liza Donnelly and Bryan Lee O’Malley to the National Book Festival.
The primary goal of this sponsorship is to bring creators from the indie comics community to the National Book Festival to provide greater exposure for them and their works to the diverse audience that attends this prestigious festival. As a partner with the Library’s Center for the Book, Small Press Expo looks forward to help promoting their various literacy initiatives and events.
Gene Luen Yang is a writer of both graphic novels and comics. His book, “American Born Chinese,” was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award; it also won an Eisner Award in 2007. “Boxers & Saints”, a two-volume project set during the Boxer Rebellion, was a National Book Award finalist, noted on Booklist’s Top 10 Religious Books for Youth, awarded Library Journal’s Best Book of the Year and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His latest work, The Shadow Hero, “explores the immigrant experience through the genre of superheroes.”
Gene was selected to be the first graphic novelist to be one of four authors to give a presentation at the gala event for the National Book Festival, whose attendees include National Book Festival authors, members of Congress, the Librarian of Congress Dr.James Billington, as well as other Library of Congress senior staff.
Author and cartoonist Liza Donnelly is best known for her cartoons in The New Yorker, but her work has been featured in several notable publications, such as The New York Times, The Harvard Business Review and The Nation, Forbes.com and Women’s Enews. In her newest book, “Women on Men,” a collection of cartoons and writing, she uses wit and sly humor to depict the changing relations of women and men in these modern times.
Award-winning cartoonist, writer and artist Bryan Lee O’Malley is best known for his best-selling, six-book Scott Pilgrim series which was adapted into the major motion picture “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” in 2010. O’Malley has received many accolades including the Doug Wright, Harvey, Joe Shuster and Eisner awards. In his latest graphic novel, “Seconds,” O’Malley tells the story of Katie and her magical mushrooms, a tale of existential angst, everyday obstacles, young love and ancient spirits.
The National Book Festival takes place Saturday, August 30, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.
Gene Luen Yang will be at the Teen pavilion, signing books from 3:30- 4:30PM and presenting from 4:40-5:10PM.
Bryan Lee O’Malley will be presenting at the Graphic Novel, Science Fiction and Fantasy pavilion from 6:45-7:20 PM and signing books from 8:00-9:00PM.
Liza Donnelly will be presenting at the Graphic Novel, Science Fiction and Fantasy pavilion from 8:15-8:50 PM and signing books from 9:00-10:00PM.
The Small Press Expo over the weekend announced the SPX 2013 Programming Schedule. SPX is proud to continue its established tradition of rich, thought-provoking programming featuring leading comics artists and critics in conversation. As in previous years, the Programming Schedule will feature two simultaneous tracks on both Saturday and Sunday, September 14th and 15th.
SPX 2013 programming highlights include special Q&A sessions with headline guests Seth, Jeff Smith, Gary Panter, Rutu Modan, The New Yorker’s Liza Donnelly and Argentinian cartoonist Liniers, many of whom will also join in several other panel discussions.
Highlights of this year’s panel discussions will include:
Head to the SPX website for the complete SPX 2013 Programming Schedule with full descriptions.
This year is the eighth year that SPX programming has been organized by Programming Coordinator Bill Kartalopoulos. Bill is a comics educator, critic and curator who has taught classes about comics at Parsons The New School for Design. Bill will be the editor for the 2014 installment of the critically acclaimed series, Best American Comics. He is the publisher and editor of Rebus Books, as well as being a Contributing Editor for Print Magazine.
Programming on Saturday will run from 11:30AM until 7PM and Sunday programming will run from 12:30PM until 6PM.
Small Press Expo has announced Liza Donnelly and Liniers as featured guests to SPX 2013, to be held September 14 and 15. Small Press Expo is honored to have the first appearance of both of these guests at this years show. Liza and Liniers will be in addition to previously announced guests Seth, Lisa Hanawalt, Gary Panter, Frank Santoro, Gene Yang, Congressman John Lewis, Rutu Modan and Michael Kupperman.
A long time cartoonist for The New Yorker, Liza Donnelly is the author/editor of over 20 books, of which 7 of them are children’s books published for Scholastic Inc. She is a Cultural Envoy for the U.S. State Department, a member of the collective Cartooning for Peace, one of the founding members of the U.S. branch of the Federation of Cartoonists Organizations (FECO), and has spoken at such esteemed forums as TED, as well as the United Nations. Her upcoming book is titled Women on Men, will be published by Narrative Magazine this Fall. More information on Liza and her body of work can be found at http://lizadonnelly.com.
Liniers appearance will be the first time SPX has featured a cartoonist representing Argentina. Liniers made his name in the Americas with his widely syndicated strip Macanudo, which is popular enough to have been collected in 8 reprint volumes. His latest book, The Big Wet Balloon, will be represented at SPX by children’s book publisher Toon Books, making their first ever SPX appearance. The Big Wet Balloon is Liniers first book to be translated into English, and is being released in both Spanish and English editions. More information on Liniers latest release and Toon Books can be found at www.toon-books.com.
