Speaking at the London Book Fair
Somehow, I’ve managed to get myself inveigled onto a panel at the London Book Fair, next week.
I’m no stranger to panels, having talked on subjects ranging from the correct uses of Social Media (that was a few years ago!) to fandoms and sales and marketing, all the way up to how to write combat in SFF. This time, though, the subject matter is quite new, and is something I’m really looking forward to. The panel is ‘Manga is Mainstream: Why Japanese Comics Connect With Global Readers’.
Since lockdown, we’ve watched Manga go from a little thing, a small curio tucked away in a random bookshop corner, to a truly colossal force. In a time where less and less people are reading for pleasure, its growth has been huge, expanding dramatically outwards and bringing in entire new demographics of readers. Thanks to my change in job, I’ve very much found myself caught up in this, carried forwards by its momentum. In many ways, it’s been a fascinating combination of my old role and my new one, and of how they’ve crossed over, as I bring the skills and knowledge from one into the arena of the other.
The panel is at 2:30pm, Tuesday 10th March, in The Salon. Nigel Twumasi, founder of mayamada, is moderating, and my fellow panelists are Karrie Fransman of the CCIC, and creators Cat Aquino and Mina Ikemoto Ghosh.
In Nigel’s words, ‘Each person is bringing unique perspective on the craft of making comics, the audience that reads it, and its cultural impact. My hope is that we can help the audience move beyond seeing manga as a trend or "genre" and look at what we can learn from its authentic storytelling, genre breadth, and emotional depth that is engaging readers right now!’
This is the first time I’ve done a panel for the London Book Fair, and I'm very much looking forward to it, and to discovering what my fellow panelists have to say!
Reading: Have just picked up There Is No Anti Memetic Division by qntm, having had it recommended by umpteen colleagues (and many, many people wanting to buy it). It looks amazing!
Watching: Isaac and I are re-watching the LOTR trilogy for the first time in many years (which is still incredible). I was telling him the story of Andy Serkis, at the launch of the London Megastore in ‘03, and how incredibly hard the man worked, doing a five hour (or something) signing, and greeting very eager child, holding up their plastic replica of The One Ring, by coming up and over the counter and hissing 'My Preciousssssss' at them, Gollum-style. His energy and tirelessness were really quite something. I do wonder if any of those kids now remember, twenty-plus years later, how delightfully scared they were.
Playing: Not much of an update to this one, sadly. Further to my anhedonia post, I’m still on PlayStation break, tho’ looking forward to our D&D tomorrow. We’re on the track of a killer and trying to unravel a whole suite of clues, to the extent where we’ve even got a murder board, covered in sticky notes. But can we solve the case?
Only dice will tell.