The Interstitial Arts Foundation (IAF) and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Arts (MoCCA) are presenting two evenings of panels on Comics and the Interstitial. The events are, in part, to support the new anthology Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss.
On 23 April, the program is Interstitiality and the Creative Artist: “For years, comic artists and writers have been struggling with the fact that their best work is usually unclassifiable and uncategorizable; most of the world doesn’t know how to describe it or even find it, let alone how to market it. Enter the Interstitial Arts Foundation, founded in 2003 to encourage and promote writing, music, and all art that falls between the cracks of recognized genres: art made in the interstices between categories, by artists without borders. Creative folks—including Megan Kelso, Colleen AF Venable, Doselle Young, and moderator Justine Larbalestier—will discuss where their least-classifiable work comes from, where it’s going, and ways that the banner of ‘interstitial’ might help get us there.”
On 30 April, the program will be Interstitiality and the Comic Book Industry: “To broaden our discussion of how border-crossing works take root in the comic book world, MoCCA and the IAF will be scoping out the industry side of the equation, bringing together the behind-the-scenes perspectives of reviewers, museum curators, booksellers, and other facilitators to discuss how to best promote and cultivate works that are inherently unclassifiable. Panel participants include Calvin Reid, Jason Little, Jessica Stockton, Dallas Middaugh, and moderator Rachel Pollack.”
Both events are at 6:30PM (doors open at 6:15) at MoCCA’s Gallery (594 Broadway, Suite 401, New York, NY 10012). For more information, MoCCA’s phone number is 212-254-3511; their web site is www.moccany.org. The IAF is on the web at www.interstitialarts.org.
Panelist bios:
Megan Kelso‘s projects include the self-published minicomic Girlhero; a short story/comic/poem, “Split Rock Montana”; Lost Valley, an environmental education comic for high schools; The Squirrel Mother, a collection of cartoon short stories focusing on girls, mostly about themes of creativity, expression, identity, and body image issues; and “Watergate Sue”, a new strip for the New York Times Sunday Magazine.
Justine Larbalestier is the editor of Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century, and author of the scholarly work The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction and of the Young Adult trilogy Magic or Madness and a born again comics fan. She blogs at: http://www.justinelarbalestier.com
Jason Little has curated a number of comic-book related gallery shows for Brooklyn’s Flux Factory and is the creator of the renowned Shutterbug Follies.
Dallas Middaugh is the Director of Manga for Del Rey Books.
Rachel Pollack is an award-winning writer best known in the comics field for her work on Doom Patrol. Pollack’s latest short story appears in the new interstitial fiction anthology, Interfictions.
Calvin Reid is the head of Publishers Weekly‘s comic book reviewing department and a consulting editor for the Reed Graphica graphic novel imprint.
Jessica Stockton is a comics buyer for the New York outpost of renowned independent bookstore McNally Robinson.
Colleen AF Venable, formerly of the Children’s Book Council, is now with the marketing staff at Roaring Brook and First Second Books. She is the creator of a fumetti (photographic) webcomic and audio podcast that both go by the name “Fluff in Brooklyn.” Her website is http://www.fluffinbrooklyn.com.
Doselle Young has written for prominent DC Comics characters including Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Authority. He is the creator of The Monarchy for DC/Wildstorm, a working screenwriter and author of short fiction (in Darker Mask, Tor Books, 2007). For better or worse, he has read at least one comic book every day of his life since he was three years old.