This previous weekend, the American Library Association kicked off 2023 with a new model of their midwinter convention: a four-day hybrid on-line/in-person occasion, LibLearnX 2023. After a few years of digital/online-only gatherings, LibLearnX 2023 was billed as ALA’s first in-person occasion, welcoming library professionals, publishers, authors and educators to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana from January 27-30.
As the primary in-person occasion held in a whereas, the crowds have been modest, and the exhibit corridor was smaller than years previous, and undoubtedly a lot quieter than ordinary. But the individuals who did come have been joyful to reconnect with one another in particular person once more, and a number of other talked about that they appreciated the chance to have conversations and collaborate in a setting that was extra intimate and low-key than ALA’s annual gathering held later in the yr (historically in mid-late June. This yr’s ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition will probably be held in Chicago, from June 22-27, 2023).
Traditionally, the ALA Midwinter convention is a time when the assorted award committees finalize their picks and rejoice winners of the Youth Media Awards, together with the hotly anticipated winners of the distinguished Newbery and Caldecott Medals, celebrating the “author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” and the “artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children,” respectively. But it’s additionally a probability for library professionals to see what’s new, speak about what’s working and what’s not in libraries throughout the United States, and get a probability to meet the creators of the books that they’ll hopefully be including to their library cabinets in the months to come.
While it’s not a comics/graphic novels-focused present, LibLearnX did have tons to see for a graphic novels/comics/manga-focused readers, together with a bunch of latest and notable graphic novels and film books value pre-ordering.
Everyone I talked to agreed that graphic novels and manga are very talked-about in each college and public libraries, however provided that that is the primary in-person ALA present in a whereas, there have been solely a smattering of publishers showcasing new graphic novel titles on the ground, together with VIZ Media, Oni Press, Scholastic Graphix, RH Graphic (on the Penguin Random House sales space), TokyoPop and NBM (on the Independent Publishers Group sales space), and First Second (on the Macmillan sales space).
Buzz-worthy graphic novels and creators showcased at LibLearnX included featured visitor speaker Brian Selznick (pictured above at his e-book signing for his upcoming Scholastic Press launch, Big Tree), The Moth Keeper by Okay. O’Neill, a single-volume, full-color fantasy story from RH Graphic, by the creator of the Tea Dragon Society books from Oni Press). Set in a fantasy world the place Anya, the Moth Keeper is accountable for the lunar moths that permit a magical flower that her village is dependent upon to thrive, makes a fateful determination to take a break from her nocturnal job duties to fulfill a easy want: to see the solar.
Memoirs, or tales from new voices and views have been additionally a fashionable theme for graphic novels featured at LibLearnX ’23. Parachute Kids, by Betty C. Tang from Scholastic Graphix is about three siblings from Taiwan who come to Southern California and discover themselves adapting to a new life, new college and a entire new language and tradition unexpectedly. Look for this to hit cabinets in early April 2023.
Thien Pham’s meals and household memoir, Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam was additionally previewed on the Macmillan sales space forward of its June 2023 launch from First Second, and was a fashionable ARC (superior reader copy) to snag amongst the graphic novel librarians I spoke with on the present. Serialized on-line through his Instagram account as he was creating this e-book, Family Style tells Pham’s recollections, from his childhood on a boat escaping Vietnam to his teen days in San Jose, California and his grownup life as a highschool trainer and comics creator, with a important meal or favourite meals anchoring every occasion that formed his life.
Maybe an Artist, a graphic memoir by New Yorker cartoonist Liz Montague (from Random House Studio) and Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes, a image e-book biography of the ‘first Black woman cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in the United States’ by Traci N. Todd and Shannon Wright (from Scholastic) supply two books devoted to two trailblazing feminine comics creators to encourage future generations of visible storytellers.
Other fashionable graphic novel developments included the ‘two oddball pals who get into misadventures together, sometimes with food themes,’ like Pizza and Taco by Stephan Shaskan (from Penguin Random House) and Weenie, a collection that includes a canine and cat named Frank and Beans by Maureen Fergus and Alexandra Bye (from Tundra Books) to title simply a few examples.
While the temper was largely optimistic on the present, there have been particular indicators that issues are powerful on the market for college and public librarians. If you’ve been following the information, you already know that these are difficult instances for librarians throughout the United States. At the “Inclusivity in Entertainment: Uplifting Black Voices” panel on Saturday, a librarian informed the authors about ‘colleagues who had to go on medical leave because they were being harassed by parents and community members.’ She continued, “We are doing our best to fight censors, but we are getting to the point where we are very tired and scared and starting to self-censor.”
Other panels on the convention included sizzling subjects like “No More Neutral: Use Marketing to Position Your Library in Challenging Times” and “Book Bans, Libraries, and the Law: Standing Up to Library Censorship in Louisiana and Beyond,” which type of provide you with an concept of what entrance line librarians are coping with these days.
I eavesdropped on some conversations librarians had with publishers about graphic novels, which was fascinating. One lady mentioned that whereas comics and manga have been massively fashionable with children at her college library, she nonetheless had to take care of lecturers who inform children that that they had to choose “real books,” not graphic novels for their classwork/e-book reviews. Another librarian informed me that she has to make some powerful selections about what books to purchase for her library, given her present funds constraints, together with not having the ability to buy greater than 1-2 first volumes of a graphic novel or manga collection, even when the collection has many extra volumes than that out there.
But there are causes to really feel hopeful for graphic novels, comics and manga in libraries. The Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table provides schooling and sources for librarians who need to embody extra comics in their collections, together with really helpful studying lists to make it simpler to discover nice reads for every kind of readers.
VIZ Media was there, providing sources simply for librarians, together with their information to including manga to e-book membership programming and their catalog of present titles damaged down into 5 teams: Kids, Tweens (age 10+), Teen (age 13+), Older Teen (age 16+) and Mature (age 18+). Given how fashionable manga is in libraries, it was shocking to see that solely VIZ had a important presence on the present ground, though a handful of TokyoPop titles have been showcased on the Independent Publishers Group desk, and it was famous, that since becoming a member of IPG, their gross sales into the assorted library and retail channels that IPG companies simply doubled their preliminary advertising plan for the Los Angeles-based writer.
Also noteworthy is the upcoming launch of Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians, a useful resource information written by librarian and manga advocate Jillian Rudes, coming in Spring 2023 from ALA Editions.
The different cause for hope for the vitality and recognition of graphic novels in libraries was obvious on the Youth Media Awards presentation on Monday morning, the place quite a few graphic novels received in a number of classes, together with a number of nods for Victory, Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile (Norton Young Readers) for Excellence in Non-Fiction and two Coretta Scott King Awards, honoring each the authors and the illustrator of this graphic memoir of Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner in the 200-meter dash on the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, who stood on the rostrum in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice.
“We’ve come a long way, as far as the acceptance of graphic novels in libraries,” remarked Robin Brenner, president elect of the Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table and Teen Librarian on the Public Library of Brookline in Massachusetts. “10 years ago, if any graphic novel got an award at the YMAs, it was big news. Now, there are so many, it maybe feels less extraordinary, but it’s still great to see.”
See the total record of Youth Media Awards 2023 winners from LibLearnX 2023, together with standout graphic novels value choosing up.
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