All Sessions

Booth # 1608 - Karen Gavigan, Author - Connecting Comics to Curriculum: Strategies for Grades 6-12

This year ALAPlay combines gaming, comics, costumes, and your favorite Time Lords (and ladies)! We invite attendees to dress up in the style of the Doctors, Companions, aliens, and artifacts of Doctor Who OR with the gleaming gears, goggles, corsets and hats of the steampunk aesthetic. Feel free to combine the two (as fans know, Doctor Who has built in quite a bit of steampunk flair to its (?) universe over the years.) We welcome all kinds of costumes, from the simple to the more elaborate: we'd love to see fans takes on a Tardis dress or perhaps a Dalek hat. There are some excellent gender swapping opportunities out there as well -- why not a Time Lady instead of a Time Lord?

The point is to have fun! Games and activities will be provided by the Games and Gaming Round Table (GameRT) while the costumed fun will be led by the Graphic Novel Member Initiative Group.

Did we mention there will be prizes? Because there will. All attendees can enter our raffle at the door for exciting prize packs from a variety of publishers.

Oh, and this year we're kicking off a conference ribbon game called These Aren't the Droids You're Looking for (http://ala12.scheduler.ala.org/node/4292). To play, you'll need to come to ALAplay to get your game packet and ribbon.

Internationally renowned comics expert Scott McCloud leads a conversation with cartoonist Larry Marder about his iconic series of Beanworld graphic novels. Marder’s multifaceted stories have inspired readers of all ages to explore their own creativity through his reflections on mythology, art, science, advertising, and ecological interdependence. McCloud helps unlock the secrets of Beanworld in a lively dialogue with Marder, examining how this series of “most peculiar comic book experiences” delights library patrons of all levels, and more importantly, how it inspires them to deepen their own explorations across your shelves.
Larry Marder , Scott McCloud

Readers old and young have grown up fans of animation, cartoons, comics, and graphic novels. Given the renaissance in graphic novels in recent years, it’s no surprise that animators are turning to the printed page to tell their stories. Animation flourishes on TV and in film from Fairly Oddparents! to The Iron Giant to Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the rise of comics has led to all kinds of crossovers between traditional illustration, comics, and animation. Join a diverse panel of creators, including animators and comics creators, to discuss the state of animation and comics, how storytelling is both similar and different in each medium, and which stories belong on the screen or on the page (or both!).

Booth # 2567 - Matt Dembicki, Author - District Comics

Business meeting of the Graphic Novels and Comics member Initiative Group. The group will discuss the status of ongoing projects and plans for future activities.

This program focuses on the impact and future of Graphic Novels, Comics, and Magazines written primarily for and by Asian, Latino, and African-American authors, featuring David Inocencio, co-founder of “The Beat Within – A Weekly Publication of Writing and Art From the Inside”; Keith Knight, award-winning author of “The Weekly K Chronicles”; Rebecca Marrell, Diversity Resident Librarian, Western Libraries in Bellingham, WA, and Jason Shiga, award-winning author of Empire State: A Love Story (or not). Discover the heart-wrenching writing and artwork created by incarcerated teens, many of whom are disproportionately represented by youth of color. Hear graphic novelists talk about the revolutionary nature of their works. This program is sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Americans Librarians Association (APALA), http://www.apalaweb.org and National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking (REFORMA),http://www.reforma.org.

N/A

Fan created works, from fan fiction to fan comics, are an increasingly visible and a richly rewarding way for fans to interact with their favorite stories from books, movies, and TV shows. At the same time, fan works raise a variety of sticky questions concerning copyright, the place of transformative work in literature, authorship, and what it means to be a writer and a reader. The ability to rewrite, recast, or redo a story or character has dramatically shifted the way readers process, share, and connect with works, authors, and other fans.

Writers, artists, and editors who have started out in the fandom world are making the transition to more traditional publishing. Is fan culture a boon to creators? A transgression against the original author’s intent and intellectual ownership? Is it hovering somewhere in between? Join a panel of authors, artists, librarians, and yes, fans, to explore the impact participatory fan culture has had and will continue to have on reading, literature, and how we encounter stories.

Presented by the Graphic Novels and Comics in Libraries MIG

Whether you call them comics, graphic novels, or manga, books telling stories by blending words and pictures have changed the world of reading. Learn about the great power that the many categories of comics hold for your patrons and explore the responsibilities we face in helping them navigate these brave new worlds. Charles Brownstein provides an overview of the world of comics and addresses common challenge issues in a talk affirming why comics are a vital aspect of the 21st century library environment.

Panelist: Charles Brownstein, Executive Director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

N/A

Ignite speakers present for exactly 5 minutes, accompanied by 20 slides. Each slide is displayed for 15 seconds, with slides advancing automatically. This is one of six Ignite sessions in this time slot.

"God of Manga" Osamu Tezuka created over 150,000 pages of comics in his lifetime, planting him in the heart of manga history and influence. Instead of the Ken Burns rendition of Tezuka's biography, I want to share the most utterly unique moments from his catalog so that other librarians can see why Tezuka is as timely, weird, funny, and thought-provoking for every age as ever.