A new Graphic Shakespeare Competition has just been launched as part of the activities surrounding the Elsinore Conference: Shakespeare the Next 400 Years in Denmark this April. The competition is open to comics creators worldwide and challenges creators to bring their own vision to classic scenes from the Bard’s plays.
To enter, you must express your interest in entering by 20th January 2016 and submit your adaptation of a Shakespeare scene by 28th February and you could win, including the chance to attend a 400th birthday weekend in Elsinore Castle Denmark over the weekend of 23rd April 2016.
Emma Hayley, Managing Director and Publisher of publishers SelfMadeHero; Fionnuala Doran, winner of the British Library’s Comics Unmasked competition; manga and anime creator Yukari Yoshihara; Comica Festival director Paul Gravett; and Harumo Sanazaki, who has created four manga Shakespeare adaptations, including Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The Elsinore Conference
During his lifetime William Shakespeare was already being hailed as the greatest writer of his day, and the intervening 400 years have only increased his reputation. No other literary figure has affected world culture so profoundly, or has had such a widespread influence on other thinkers and artists. William Shakespeare is the most universally recognised, culturally iconic figure in the world. But why?
For three days in April 2016, on the 400th anniversary of his death, actors and academics, scholars and writers, historians, comic artists, game designers and film makers will be coming together from all over the world, meeting at Elsinore in Denmark – ‘Hamlet’s castle’ – to discuss and debate the legacy, and the future, of Shakespeare’s work.
This conference/festival will explore two great questions: why, after 400 years, do we continue to read, study, perform, and enjoy the work of this playwright and poet, and how, in the next 400 years, will we continue to do so? Will we present Shakespeare in new ways? Will we use new technologies? New media? Will Shakespeare become a basis for further new works which use him as a launch pad, or even as raw material, or will we go back to the simplicity of his words themselves?
This historic conference is being planned as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, offering a chance to be part of a worldwide commemoration of the death of the writer who, ironically, more than any other, deserves the title of immortal. Participants and contributors from every corner of the globe have already signed up.
The event will include discussions on Shakespeare in Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Animation and Game Design.
The goal of the Graphic Shakespeare seminar at the event will beto explore various forms of Shakespeare’s works made into graphic formats, including four-panel comic strip, illustrated books, graphic novels, comics, bande desinee, anime, manga and others. We have Classics Illustrated Shakespeare, De Lucca’s Hamlet, SelfMadeHero’s celebrated Manga Shakespeare Series, Romeo X Juliet, Psycho-pass, you name it. Some of them could be fairly close to the original, others could be slap stick comedies. What are these graphic Shakespeares doing to cultural authority of Shakespeare? Are they butchering his works? Or are they opening up another possibilities for Shakespeare’s works for the next 400 years?
• Full details of the Graphic Shakespeare competition here on the University of Teeside web site: https://www.tees.ac.uk/elsinore/competition.pdf (PDF link)
• To book for Elsinore, visit this page
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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.
Categories: British Comics, Comics Competitions, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News