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Comics Medicine Dundee Conference Details Revealed, Lynda Barry, Al Davison on Guest List

By John Freeman on April 27, 2016

Custom conference artwork by confetence host at the University of Dundee, Andrew Godfrey

The 7th International Comics & Medicine Conference: Stages & Pages will take place in Dundee in July 2016.

Keynote Speakers are Lynda Barry, Al Davison, Elisabeth El Rafaie with a special workshop run by Lynda Barry & Dan Chaon.

Organised by Graphic Medicine, the theme of this year’s conference, Stages & Pages, will invite participants to think about comics and healthcare in relation to performance in its myriad conflicting and complementary forms, from the clinical, to the social and the theatrical.

Both clinicians and patients alike often feel the need to live up to prescribed “roles” both on and off the medical “stage”, and this conference will consider the various ways in which comics address these issues.

Issues discussed will include but will not be limited to comic narratives of stages of life, illness, and the medical career; stages of the creative process, process as performance, and the relation of the creative process to disability, illness, and medicine; the comic/body as stage; comics and the social performance of illness, disability, and the healthcare profession; technical performance in healthcare, illness, disability, and comics; the use of space in performance, illness, disability, and healthcare; ethical implications of comics and performance; rrends in, histories of, or the use of comics in healthcare; and the use of comics and design in the service of healthcare education.

Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry has worked as a painter, cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, editor, commentator, and teacher and found that they are very much alike. She lives in her native Wisconsin, where she is assistant professor of art and Discovery Fellow at University of Wisconsin Madison.

Barry is the inimitable creator behind the seminal comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek, which was syndicated across North America in alternative weeklies for two decades, featuring the incomparable Marlys and Freddy. Her many acclaimed credits include The Good Times are Killing Me, which was adapted as an off-Broadway play and won the Washington State Governor’s Award.

She has written two bestselling and acclaimed creative how-to graphic novels for Drawn & Quarterly: What It Is, which won the Eisner Award for Best Reality Based Graphic Novel and R.R. Donnelly Award for highest literary achievement by a Wisconsin author; and Picture This.

Al Davison (via his Twitter)

Al Davison a comic creator who works extensively for DC/Vertigo on such titles as: Hellblazer, Vermillion, House of Mystery, CMYK and more. He also drew Doctor Who comics for IDW and has worked for publishers such as Renegade Arts and Active Images, as well as several creator owned titles.

He’s probably best known for his stunning graphic memoir The Spiral Cage, which explored his experiences growing up with Spina-Bifida, a condition he was born with and wasn’t expected to survive.

Over the last ten years he’s been trying to complete the second volume, Muscle Memory, but the pressure of having to take on commercial work to pay the rent, and health problems, meant that he had to put it on hold until discovering the Patreon creative platform via a tweet by Neil Gaiman, which inspired him to have another go.

Muscle Memory: A Survivors Tale, is even more of a challenge than the first volume, as it not only continues to look at disability issues, but also addresses Al’s experiences of physical child abuse at the hands of his Father.

All attendees will be required to register for 1 of the 2 Lynda Barry & Dan Chaon workshops. Registration is free but ticketed and will be made available soon through the event’s Eventbrite page.

• 7th International Comics & Medicine Conference, Dundee: Stages & Pages Thursday, 7 July 2016 at 4.00pm – Saturday, 9 July 2016 at 7.00pm, Dalhousie Building – Old Hawkhill, Dundee, DD1 5EN – View Map

• Full Conference details: www.graphic medicine.org/graphic-medicine-2016-conference-stages-pages

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.