ALIA Graphic Podcast

The field of comics librarianship is growing and evolving and that’s what we want to explore in a few special episodes, talking in-depth with comics librarians. ALIA Graphic was created as a group five years ago. And right from the start we established contact with the American Library Association’s Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable. A group that’s been around for longer than us and a group that has achieved a lot since its creation. So we're absolutely delighted to have Amie Wright with us, who was the first president, or first Prime Minister, of the graphic novels and comics roundtable. 04:57 Amie talks about her PhD, researching comics history and censorship, the stigma around comics and her work teaching of comics and history. 12:47 Comics librarianship before the Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable.25:38 Every library needs a graphic novels champion because comics are important and comics librarianship is gets at the core of a good library service, serving the whole community and their needs. 28:18 Amie talks about how the library education days at Toronto, San Diego and New York helped make the case to the American Library Association for the creations of the Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable. 34:33 Amie talks about what the original goals for the Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable were when the group was created.38:00 Iurgi talks about what the goals were when ALIA Graphic was created. To create resources for librarians, the monthly roundups, blog, podcast, creator chats and webinars. The Perth Comic Arts Festival is discussed as a vibrant festival dedicated to comics that has a partnership with the State Library of WA.41:55 Amie talks about how and why the Toronto Comic Arts Festival is bringing back library education day this year in partnership with Graphic Medicine International Collective, the Graphic Novels and Comics and Roundtable and the Ontario Library Service.44:43 How comics librarianship has developed since the creation of the GNCRT. 53:58 Amie talks about the greatest achievements and challenges in comics librarianship.  01:01:33 What can we do to continue to advocate for and promote comics in libraries.

We're back in 2025 and start the year with a roundup of news and new titles from December, January and February. Marissa and Luke discuss the Angouleme festival, Diamond going bankrupt, the best titles of 2024, their favourite picks from the latest crop of new titles and what they've reading lately.For more information and to check out the full roundup with all the news, articles and resources visit our website: https://graphic.alia.org.au/

James, Gabby, and Marissa look back at the what ALIA Graphic has achieved this year.

In this episode we present the recording of our most recent webinar.Are you thinking of hosting a comic event at your library? Join us as we hear from those who have run these programs before and what tips and tricks to look out for. We hear from five speakers from four library services that have run comic con events. Each of the speakers gives a brief overview of their event.SPEAKERS:Sarah Hopkins and Sabina Wills - Comics ExtravaganzaFel Jeges - King ConDennis Cahill - Comic ConversationsStacey O'Brien & Roseanne Travers - Comic Gong Thank you to the panellists. For more from ALIA Graphic go to our website: https://graphic.alia.org.au/

In this creator chat James meets with Dan from Greenlight Comics in Adelaide and Angelo from Kings Comics in Sydney to talk about their comics stores work with libraries and what they can offer to libraries.This is a wide ranging conversation that explores for them to partner with libraries as suppliers, what makes it appealing for libraries to work with their local comics store and their processes.They also recommend their favourite comics of the moment, which turns into a James Tynion IV love-fest.You can find Greenlight Comics here: https://greenlightcomics.com/You can find Kings Comics here: https://kingscomics.com/For more from ALIA Graphic our website is: https://graphic.alia.org.au/

In this month's roundup Marissa and Luke share their recent favourite reads:The Road: a Graphic Novel Adaptation by Manu Larcenet and Cormac McCarthyWolvendaughter by VerBloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna GanucheauRaybearer, Redemptor, and The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko, which aren't graphic novels but would make great adaptationsThen they discuss some of the latest news in the world of comics and graphic novels:The new Green Lantern statue unveiled in Burbank, CaliforniaThe possible acquisition of Kadokawa by SonyRandom House's new Ink Pop imprint dedicated to manga, manhwa, and print editions of webtoonsNew omnibus collections of Haikyuu!! by Haruichi Furudate and English translation of Pupposites Attract by Hono NatsunaFinally, they tell us what their favourite picks are from the new titles out this month:Hilda and Twig: Hide From the Rain by Luke PearsonRonin Rising by Frank Miller, Philip Tan, and Daniel HernriquesOrchard of the Tame by Marlo Meekins and Nick CrossWe Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton CowlesFor the full roundup of news, resources and new titles visit our website: https://graphic.alia.org.au

In this creator chat James sits down with Dean Rankine, a comics artist and writer who won a Ledger Award in 2015 for Itty Bitty Bunnies: Saves X-Mas and the Stan Cross Award in Book illustration in 2020. He's the artist behind Magda Szubanski's Timmy the Ticked Off Pony and most recently he has published Death Metal Elves, with his characteristic cartoony style.Dean is most famous for working on The Simpsons, Futurama, Rick and Morty and Invader Zim and he also loves working with school and libraries doing comics workshops.In this episode, Dean discusses his own comics, what it's like working for established franchises, creating his own books and what his comics workshops in schools and libraries are like.For more from Dean Rankine follow his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deanrankine/For more from ALIA Graphic check out our website: https://graphic.alia.org.au/

In this month's roundup Jade and Mia discuss their recent favourite reads: Tabby by Stephen Kok, PR DedelisEight Billion Genies by Charles Soule, Ryan BrownEscape From St Hell: My Trans Teen Life Levels Up by Lewis HancoxSpy x Family by Tatsuya EndoRoaming by Jillian Tamaki, Mariko TamakiThen they discuss: The Harvey Awards with the double win of the Tamaki super team; Akira Toriyama being inducted into the hall of fame; New manga titles to buy recommended by Sara Smith of the Graphic Library blog; Figment, a new Austrlalian imprint dedicated to publishing graphic novels; A recent article on The Conversation about iyashikei mangaFinally, they discuss their favourite picks of the new titles out this month:The Weirn Books Vol. 2: The Ghost and the Stolen Dragon by Svetlana ChmakovaCrystal Cadets by Anne Toole, K. O'Neill, Paulina GanucheauNo Rules Tonight by Kim Hyun Sook, Ryan EstradaPirate Princess by Luca Frigerio, Lorenza Pigliamosche, Simon BowlandThis Land is Our Land by Julio Anta, Jacoby Salcedo, Francesco SegalaFor the full roundup of news, resources and new titles visit our website: https://graphic.alia.org.au

We started ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics in February 2020. The first episode of our podcast was published in March 2020 as the world prepared to go into lockdown and it's been a whirlwind ever since. We've been publishing monthly roundups of news, resources, webinars and new titles published since March 2020. We created our podcast feed and published our first creator chats in May 2020. All this takes an enormous amount of time to compile but we feel it's important to share everything we have gathered, not just among the ALIA Graphic Committee but with everyone and anyone interested.We have also made a special effort to interview as many Australian comics creators as possible. Our creator chats focus on Australian creators discussing what they love about comics, how they fell in love with the medium and, of course, their comics and graphic novels. A lot of them are on our YouTube channel and all of them are on our podcast feed (because some of them are camera shy and that's totally fair). We never could've imagined it but we are this is the 100th episode of our podcast.To celebrate this we have received some messages. We want to thank the ALIA National team for their support and we're glad to receive a message from ALIA Deputy CEO Trish Hepworth.Then, we hear from four awesome Australian creators who have been kind enough to put their pencils down and send us a message. We hear from:Sarah Winifred Searle, who tells us about what she loves about libraries and how libraries have helped her as a library creatorReimena Yee tells us about what she loves about comics as a story telling medium and how things are changing in the Australian comics sceneMat Groom talks about what he loves about the Australian comics community and his love of librariesJames Foley answered lots of questions and he has a lot to say about making, the Australian comics community and more.A huge thank you to all four of them for putting their pencils down for a few minutes and sending us a message. A special thanks to Chris Gooch who sent us the art for this episode.And a heartfelt thank you from everyone in the ALIA Graphic Committee to all creators and guests in the first 100 episodes. We love your work and we thank you for every email with feedback, the creator chats and your support.For more from us, check out our website and socials. Visit our website for more: https://graphic.alia.org.au/