Announcement: USC to host International Comic Arts Forum, April 14-16, 2016

[Here's a press release from the International Comic Arts Forum. A Call for Papers will follow in September. --GK]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 21, 2015

Contact Info:

Mark Heimermann

ICAF Promotions Coordinator

icafcomic@gmail.com

The University of South Carolina to host International Comic Arts Forum,

April 14-16, 2016

Confirmed speakers include cartoonists Howard Cruse, Keith Knight,

and Prof. Michael Chaney of Dartmouth College.

The International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF) is proud to announce that the University of South Carolina will host the forum’s 18th annual academic conference from April 14-16, 2016 in Columbia, South Carolina. A call for conference papers will be forthcoming in September 2015.

Since 1995, the International Comic Arts Forum has been dedicated to promoting the scholarly study and appreciation of comic art, including comic strips, comic books, comics albums and graphic novels, magazine and newspaper cartooning, caricature, and comics in electronic media. The forum provides a supportive, collegial environment to showcase innovative comics scholarship and comic art from around the world.

Cartoonists Howard Cruse and Keith Knight are confirmed as two of the guest artists for ICAF 2016. Cruse, the Eisner and Harvey award-winning creator of Stuck Rubber Baby, began his career as a contributor to 1970s underground comics. He is a founding editor of Gay Comix and creator of Barefootz and the series, Wendel. Knight is best known for The K Chronicles, his Glyph and Harvey-award winning comic strip, as well as the social and political satire of his (Th)ink series. Prof. Michael Chaney from Dartmouth College will be the ICAF 2016 keynote speaker. Chaney is editor of the collection, Graphic Subjects: Critical Essays on Autobiography and Graphic Novels, and author of numerous essays about comics and African American history, autobiographical narrative, and animal subjects. Additional guests will be announced in the coming months.

As the 2016 venue, the University of South Carolina is the state’s flagship campus in Columbia with over 30,000 students. Comics studies offerings are a fixture in USC’s academic programs in English, Media Studies, Library Science, and the archives in the library collections showcase significant holdings in southern political cartoons. In recent years, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis was selected for the university-wide First Year Reading Experience, while Media Arts students create manga in studio courses for the School of Visual Art and Design. Silver City, the oldest comic book store in the Southeast, is located within only a few miles of campus. Previous ICAF conferences have been held at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University, the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Georgetown University, and the Small Press Expo in Maryland.

ICAF will also sponsor the John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies competition again in 2016. This scholarship, named for pioneering teacher and researcher Dr. John Lent, is awarded to a current student who has authored, or is in the process of authoring, a substantial research-based writing project about comics. The recipient will be asked to present their work at the upcoming conference. A separate CFP for the award will be forthcoming. For more information, visit our Lent Scholarship page.

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