CCA to host first West Coast Queers and Comics conference

Queers & Comics 2017

Friday - Saturday, April 14 - 15, 2017

California College of the Arts, 1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco

San Francisco, Calif., March 6, 2017 – California College of the Arts is set to host Queers & Comics 2017, the second biennial, university-based LGBTQ comics art conference. For the first time on the West Coast, the conference will bring together over 150 international LGBTQ cartoonists, editors, publishers, and scholars representing over five decades of creative production from around the world.

Admission to the conferences is $75: queersandcomics.cca.edu.

Founded in New York in 2015, Queers & Comics 2017 spotlights the cultural significance and artistry of LGBTQ manga (Japanese comics) and queer comics in the Bay Area -- from the underground comix movement of the 1970s to the present day. The conference will feature over 35 panel discussions with Queer Comics creators, educators, and professionals as well as hands-on workshops, live readings, onsite book sales and signings, and a digital exhibition of queer cartoon art.

In addition to the two-day conference, festivities will kick off with “drink & draw” parties on Thursday, April 13, and close with "Queer Comix Live," a queer comics reading, on Sunday, April 16.

This year’s panels will cover such topics as gender and cultural identity and queer comics genres (manga, sci-fi, erotica, memoir, health, etc.) as well as teaching, publishing, and art techniques.

Keynote Presenters:

Mariko Tamaki’s works include New York Times bestseller This One Summer and Skim, with Jillian Tamaki, and the YA novel Saving Montgomery Sole. This One Summer received Printz and Caldecott Honors, an Ignatz, and an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album (New). Tamaki is also working on Supergirl: Being Super with Joëlle Jones for DC Comics and Hulk with Nico Leon for Marvel Comics.

Gengoroh Tagame is one of the world’s most widely regarded gay erotic artists. He has written and illustrated over 20 graphic novels, many of which have been translated into English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Korean. My Brother’s Husband (Futabasha 2013, Pantheon 2017) marks his first “all-ages” title and has garnered him a Japan Media Arts Award for Outstanding Work of Manga from the government’s Agency of Culture.

Additional panelists: Brian Andersen, Marc Andreyko, Tara Avery, Elizabeth Beier, Terry Blas, Tony Breed, Jennifer Camper, andré carrington, Don Chooi, Charles “Zan” Christensen, Tyler Cohen, Howard Cruse, MK Czerwiec, Blue Deliquanti, Rachel Dukes, Dylan Edwards, Edie Fake, Ramzi Fawaz, Patrick Fillion, Ellen Forney, Sophia Foster-Dimino, Leanne Franson, Erica Friedman, Nicole Georges, Melanie Gillman, Diego Gomez, Sina Grace, Roberta Gregory, Karen Green, Justin Hall, Becky Hawkins, Salvador Hernandez, Victor Hodge, Joan Hilty, Rupert Kinnard, Robert Kirby, Sophie Labelle, Sara Lautman, Ed Luce, Steve MacIsaac, Ajuan Mance, Andy Mangels, MariNaomi, Lee Marrs, Carrie McNinch, Desmond Miller, Eric Orner, Rachel Pollack, HiIlary Price, Carlo Quispe, Trina Robbins, Naomi Rubin, Stephen Sadowski, Darieck Scott, Jeremy Sorese, AK Summers, Joey Stern, Taneka Stotts, Susan Stryker, Scout Tran-Caffee, Robert Triptow, Josh Trujillo, Ivan Velez, Maurice Vellekoop, Shannon Watters, Mary Wings, Alex Woolfson, Rick Worley, Sophie Yanow, and many more.

About California College of the Arts

Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) educates the creative leaders of tomorrow to make powerful contributions to society. CCA’s distinctive project-based educational model emphasizes interdisciplinary experimentation, risk-taking, and innovation.

CCA offers a rich curriculum of 22 undergraduate and 12 graduate programs in art, design, architecture, and writing taught by a faculty of expert practitioners and attracts promising students from across the United States and from 54 countries around the world. Graduates are highly sought after by companies such as Pixar/Disney, Apple, Intel, Facebook, Gensler, Google, IDEO, Autodesk, Mattel, and Nike, and many have launched their own successful businesses. For more information, visit cca.edu.

CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:

Queers & Comics 2017
April 14 through April 15, 2017

Location: 1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco
Admission: $75
Information: queersandcomics.cca.edu