abbycomix

San Franciso was amazing as usual and APE was a lot of fun. The best part was seeing friends like Shannon O’Leary and Larry Brown who I could not have survived the trip without! Other amazing parts were getting to hang out with Jennifer Joseph at the Manic D booth and the reading I did at a high school. (My first high school reading!)
The reading at the 3 Dollar Bill cafe was a great time too. So many talented  cartoonists! I feel so proud to be included with such great talent! The panels I participated in were amazing too. Top notch!
The other great part was Matt made it in and we had some time for sight seeing. Larry drove us all over (thanks again Larry) and we saw sooo much in so little time. A totally amazing trip! Highlights include China Town, Little Tokyo, burritos, the great comic shops Comic Relief and Isotope, 826 Valencia (a pirate store and writing center for kids), Dog Eared Books. Also the natural beauty Larry took us to see like the Marin headlands. We got an amazing night view at a high point. I also need to recommend two really great breakfast places St. Francis Fountain and Candy and Boogaloos (though I hear it’s tough to get into that one on weekends).
Here are some pics from the trip!

Saturday May 12, 10:00 A.M.
TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY: WORDS AND IMAGES IN GRAPHIC NOVELS AND COMICS
What are the opportunities and challenges in telling a story with a combination of text and pictures? In this panel, we’ll hear from writers who have worked in both prose and comic formats, and from comics creators who have dabbled in picture-free prose. How do the different formats affect the creative process? How does the collaboration between writer and artist work? What trends are emerging in queer comics? And how can would-be graphic novelists and comics writers find collaborators and break into publishing on the web and in print?
Panelists: Abby Denson, Tim Fish, and Kelly McQuain.
Moderator: Jim Gladstone.
St. Mary’s Salon, Bourbon Orleans
717 Orleans (Corner of Bourbon and Orleans) in the French Quarter
www.sasfest.org

April 20, 3pm
George Washington High School’s Richmond Village Beacon afterschool program. Event presented by San Francisco Public Library. 600 32nd Avenue San Francisco, CA 94121

April 21-22 APE - Alternative Press Expo
620 7th Street , San Francisco, CA

Saturday:
11:30-12:30 signing at the Manic D Press / City Lights booth
12:30-1:40 Socially Relevant Comics Panel with Shaenon Garrity, Keith Knight, Gene Yang, Shannon O’Leary, Mario Hernandez , and Paige Braddock
5-6pm signing at Prism Comics booth
Afterwards-
7-10pm “Going Ape” group reading (including Robert Kirby, Justin Hall, Erika Lopez, Paige Braddock, Tim Fish) at:
Three Dollar Bill Café 1800 Market St. @ the LGBT Center, San Francisco

Sunday, April 22nd @ APE
1-2pm signing at Prism Comics booth
4:45-5:45pm Queer Cartoonists panel

Today Tim Fish and I did two CT events. Early this morning we spoke at the Tunxis Writer’s Festival (at Tunxis Community College in Farmington) and in the evening we spoke at Real Art Ways, a cool art and theater space in Hartford, CT. These were pretty significant events to me since they’re the first “hometown” appearances I’ve made. West Hartford is where I grew up and attended high school, the place that definitely inspired parts of my book, Tough Love. So it was good to see my family there and also teach about graphic novels and spread the word on mine and Tim’s work. We also got some nice write-ups in the Hartford Courant and The Hartford Advocate as well as The Metroline. Yay!
I had to get up deadly early for the Tunxis event but it was totally worth it. It was hard to know what to expect as many of these kids were attending for class. A captive audience! They were great though and I hope we get to do it again sometime. We were preceded by a speech by the school president and she mentioned recent events like the Imus scandal and the shootings in Virginia. She discussed the power of words in relation to these events (the shooter apparently had written some disturbing stories that raised red flags with some teachers). She also mentioned blogging and youtube, the power of people to hurt with words posted online so often. Lots of food for thought.
Our event at Real Art Ways was tied into a Day of Silence rally. The Day of Silence is  an annual event held to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying,  harassment and discrimination in schools. A major topic touched on in Tough Love.
So this is just the start of my crazy travel week of excitement. I’ll be in San Francisco from tomorrow until next Wed. Should be fun! See you at APE!

If you’re in CT on Wed. 4/18 come and check out these events I’ll be participating in.Tunxis Writer’s Festival - 9am in the Cafeteria (with Tim Fish)
Tunxis Community College
271 Scott Swamp Road • Farmington, CT
free admission

also April 18 - 6PM (with Tim Fish)

Presentation following
The Gay and Lesbian Student Education Network’s
and True Color’s Breaking the Silence Rally.

Real Art Ways
56 Arbor St. Hartford, CT

The True Colors Conference was great and Tim and I had a blast running our “Adventures in Gay Comics” workshop. Very cool. The class was full and everybody had interesting questions and were totally engaged with the topic.
I hope this will be a regular thing for us as it’s so rewarding for everybody!

On Saturday Tim Fish and I will be doing our “Adventures in Gay Comics” workshop at the True Colors Conference from 1-2:30pm in SC 1849 ROOM at CCSU in New Britain, CT. It’s a gathering in Central Connecticut for and about LGBT youth.

True Colors, Inc. Sexual Minority Youth and Family Services is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization that combats homophobia, gender bias, and racism. We provide support, education, and advocacy to those responsible for the health, education, and well-being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Youth and Families.

I just got home from the Small Press Center event at Mo Pitkin’s which went great and was very well attended despite the snow storm. Yay for literature fans! I was the only graphic novelist in attendance and though I didn’t know anybody there I got a very good response. One kind attendee asked me if I was always so “joyful and rebellious” and I think that is a great description of my style. It was neat to try out my stuff with a new non-comic-specific crowd. There were 31 writers doing 5 minute readings so it was a real marathon!

Check out the cool event I’ll be participating in this month! I’ll be on between 9pm and 10pm.

National Small Press Month Reading Marathon
Friday, March 16, 2007
www.smallpressmonth.org

Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction:
34 Avenue A, NYC 10009. 212.777.5660.
Friday, March 16, 2007. 6-10 p.m. $5.

A March Reading Marathon : 31 Writers for 31 Days.
Celebrate Extraordinary Writers and the Presses Who Publish Them.

Nahid Rachlin (City Lights); Felicia Luna Lemus (Akashic Books); T. Cooper (Akashic Books); Lauren Sanders (Akashic Books); Lynne Tillman (Soft Skull Press); Matthew Sharpe (Soft Skull Press); David Silverman (Soft Skull Press); Tim Brown (Bronx River Press); Rachel Sherman (Open City Books); Sam Brumbaugh (Open City Books); Paul Foster Johnson (Apostrophe Press); Martha Oatis (Portable Press Yo-Yo Labs); Stacy Szymaszek (Litmus Press); Brenda Iijima (Litmus Press); Tracy Grinnell (O Books); Rachel Levitsky (Belladonna Books); Lila Zemborain (Belladonna Books); Marcella Durand (Belladonna Books); Erica Kaufman (Belladonna Books); Jen Benka (Soft Skull Press); David Cameron (Ugly Duckling Presse); Dan Machlin (Ugly Duckling Presse); Prageeta Sharma (Fence Books); Kevin Bartelme (Cool Grove); Ihsan Bracy (Cool Grove); Akilah Oliver (Portable Press Yo-Yo Labs); Tisa Bryant (Leon Works); Aaron Petrovich (Akashic Books); Deepa Fernandez (Seven Stories Press); Abby Denson (Manic D Press).

For more information contact the Small Press Center : 212.764.7021 or visit www.smallpressmonth.org and click on the Events section.

*Small Press Month is a nationwide initiative co-sponsored by the Small Press Center : The Center for Independent Publishing; the CLMP, (The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses); and PMA, The Independent Book Publishers Association.

The Tough Boys in Trouble event went great! It was so fun seeing everybody and I felt really loved and appreciated by friends and panelists. Always a great feeling! The audience was great and we had a very nice turnout. Then I had a great dinner with Adam, Pete, and Russ at Benny’s Burritos. I hadn’t been there in ages. So yummy! Here’s a pic!