An Afternoon with Graphic Novelists from around the globe:
Jonathan Ames, Neil Gaiman, Emmanuel Guibert, David Polonsky, Shaun Tan, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and Adrian Tomine
WHEN: SATURDAY, MAY 2
WHERE: The Great Hall, Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, NYC
1-2:00 p.m. Neil Gaiman: Coraline, Sandman, Books and Imagination
Join Neil Gaiman, the creator of the enormously popular Sandman series of graphic novels, Coraline (recently adapted to the big screen), and a dizzying array of novels, short stories and films — with World Voices Festival director Caro Llewellyn for a discussion on imagination, inspiration and creativity.
2:30-4 p.m. 1,000 Words: The Power of Visual Storytelling
Participants: Emmanuel Guibert, David Polonsky, and Shaun Tan. Moderated by Jonathan Ames. David Polonsky (Israel) illustrated the horrors of the Israeli-Lebanon war in Waltz with Bashir; Shaun Tan (Australia) has imagined the experience of immigration in The Arrival; Jonathan Ames (U.S.) has depicted the life of a failing writer in The Alcoholic; and Emmanuel Guibert (France) has documented war in Afghanistan and in Europe.
4:30-5:30 p.m. Yoshihiro Tatsumi in Conversation with Adrian Tomine
Yoshihiro Tatsumi — widely credited with starting the gekigastyle of alternative comics in Japan some 40 years ago — is joined by Adrian Tomine, the acclaimed author of Shortcomings, for a conversation on the evolution of comics in Japan, the U.S., and around the world. Cosponsored by Cooper Union.
$10/$8 PEN members The three sessions: Only $25/$20 PEN members www.smarttix.com or 212.868.4444
20% DISCOUNT for STUDENTS: $8 for one session, $20 for three sessions. Use code: pen303
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Yoshihiro Tatsumi will also appear in… Working for the Weekend: Modern Day Salarymen
WHEN: THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 4:30–5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 East 52nd Street, NYC
Participants: Kathrin Röggla and Yoshihiro Tatsumi
From Kafka’s Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis to Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe in The Sportswriter, writers have explored the everyday realities of working life to tell larger stories. Yoshihiro Tatsumi began depicting the lives of Japanese working people in his comics more than four decades ago, while Kathrin Röggla’s docu-novel We Never Sleep describes the working experience of her European contemporaries. Join them for a discussion about writing the working lives of everyday people—East and West. Cosponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum.
FREE and open to the public. However, reservations are required. Please call ACF’s reservation line at 212.319.5300 (ext. 222) or email reservations@acfny.org.
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All of these events are presented as part of PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. 160 writers from 40 countries take the stage at venues across the city for a week of conversations, performances and readings. New York City, April 27-May 3, 2009. For complete schedule of events (including a ton of other literary-centric delights), go here.
