On May 18-20, the University of Chicago is hosting a conference called “Comics: Philosophy & Practice” that will bring together 17 world-renowned graphic novelists for three days of lectures and public conversation at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. Attendees include Alison Bechdel, Lynda Barry, Daniel Clowes, R. Crumb, Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, and Chris Ware. The conference was organized by Hillary Chute, an English professor at U. Chicago and a leading expert on graphic narrative.For those who cannot attend, it will be webcasted throughout the weekend. Information about the webcast can be found here.
The three-day conference features a range of events — lectures, conversations, panels, and workshops — cartoonists will come together at the University of Chicago, long a location of word-and-image study, to take stock of their own ground-breaking work and the future of comics.They will explore comics autobiography and journalism, the current shape of the “graphic novel,” the power of hand-drawn images to shock and provoke, historical print culture, the narrative impact of comics style, and where and how today’s most exciting work is happening.
The first of its kind, this historic conference brings together 17 world-famous cartoonists whose work has defined contemporary comics. These internationally acclaimed figures have innovated the visual styles, genres, and formats that make comics popular and fascinating; they set the terms for the possibilities of the form.
Can you put names to the participants portraits below?
