In November, Literary Arts was thrilled to host over 100 exciting authors and presenters at the virtual Portland Book Festival, presented by Bank of America. Among those authors and presenters were talented illustrators, comics artists, and graphic novelists with books for all ages!
Below are highlights from our graphic lit and illustrator lineup, including links to watch their events in our Video Library. All free events from the Festival were recorded and are available to watch now in our Video Library at PDXBookFest.org!
For adult readers: I Want You by Lisa Hanawalt & The Loneliness of the Long Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine
Lisa Hanawalt & Adrian Tomine, presented though a partnership with Miami Book Fair, shared their latest books out from Drawn & Quarterly. Watch their conversation in our Video Library HERE.
About I Want You: Before the critically acclaimed animated shows (including BoJack Horseman), the bestselling graphic novel Coyote Doggirl, or the humor collections Hot Dog Taste Test and My Dirty Dumb Eyes, cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt was a comic-book-industry sensation with her Ignatz Award-winning minicomic series I Want You. Hanawalt’s outlandish humor and ingenious formalism are evident in the comics collected here. Her love of anthropomorphism and scatology are on full display, all lovingly and grotesquely drawn by Hanawalt in obsessive, unnerving detail.
About The Loneliness of the Long Distance Cartoonist: A comedic memoir about fandom, fame, and other embarrassments from the life of a New York Times bestseller. What happens when a childhood hobby grows into a lifelong career? The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, Adrian Tomine’s funniest and most revealing foray into autobiography, offers an array of unexpected answers. When a sudden medical incident lands Tomine in the emergency room, he begins to question if it was really all worthwhile: despite the accolades and opportunities of a seemingly charmed career, it’s the gaffes, humiliations, slights, and insults he’s experienced (or caused) within the industry that loom largest in his memory.
Purchase a copy of I Want You and The Loneliness of a Long Distance Cartoonist from Miami-based independent bookstore, Books & Books.
For YA readers: A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong
PNW-based Sloane Leong shared A Map to the Sun in conversation with Liara Tamani (All the Things We Never Knew) and moderator Lucy Feldman. Watch their conversation in our Video Library HERE.
About A Map to the Sun: A gripping YA graphic novel about five principle players in a struggling girls’ basketball team. One summer day, Ren meets Luna at a beachside basketball court and a friendship is born. But when Luna moves to back to Oahu, Ren’s messages to her friend go unanswered.
Years go by. Then Luna returns, hoping to rekindle their friendship. Ren is hesitant. She’s dealing with a lot, including family troubles, dropping grades, and the newly formed women’s basketball team at their high school.
Sloane Leong’s evocative storytelling about the lives of these young women is an ode to the dynamic nature of friendship.
Purchase a copy of A Map to the Sun from Portland-based independent bookstore Powell’s Books here.
For YA readers: Odessa by Jonathan Hill & Displacement by Kiku Hughes
Portland-based Jonathan Hill & debut graphic novelist Kiku Hughes, with moderator Jules Ohman, shared their works at the Festival. Watch their conversation in our Video Library HERE.
About Odessa: Three siblings search for their missing mother across a ruined America in this original graphic novel from Jonathan Hill. Eight years ago an earthquake — the Big One — hit along the Cascadia fault line, toppling cities and changing landscapes all up and down the west coast of the United States. Life as we know it changed forever. But for Vietnamese-American Virginia Crane, life changed shortly after the earthquake, when her mother left and never came back.
About Displacement: A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother’s experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps in Displacement, a historical graphic novel from Kiku Hughes. Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II. These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself stuck back in time.
Purchase a copy of Odessa and Displacement from Portland-based independent bookstore Powell’s Books.
For Middle Grade readers: Scholastic GraphixCon panel
Chris Grine (Animorphs), Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet),Varian Johnson & Shannon Wright (Twins), Maria Scrivan (Nat Enough), and moderater Aron Nels Steinke (Mr. Wolf’s Class) came together to draw and talk craft in this panel celebrating fifteen years of Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. Watch their conversation in our Video Library HERE.
Purchase a copies of all these great books from Portland-based independent bookstore Green Bean Books!
For Picture Book readers: All our Picture Book videos, including Happy Narwhalidays by Ben Clanton
Watch storytimes and live-drawing demos from picture book authors & illustrators in our Video Library HERE.
Videos include Ben Clanton’s delightfully festive latest in the Narwhal and Jelly series: Happy Narwhalidays. In the video, Clanton gives a tutorial on how to draw the beloved duo!
Other drawing demos include Red Shoes illustrator, Ebony Glenn, drawing main character Malika dancing in her new red shoes, and Every Night is Pizza Night illustrator, Gianna Ruggiero, drawing main character Pipo enjoying her favorite food!
Purchase a copy of Happy Narwhalidays, as well as all Festival children’s titles from Portland-based independent bookstore Green Bean Books.
Relive the magic of the 2020 #PDXBookFest by viewing ALL free events on demand in our Video Library now!
