Maine Comics Arts Festival 2014 Announces Guests

The Maine Comics Arts Festival will be held in Portland, ME on Sunday, May 18, 2014. Featuring over 100 comics writers, artists and publishers, this will be a celebration of the comics art form. There will be everyone from mini comics publishers to seasoned professionals. There will be comic book writers and artists, gag cartoonists, newspaper cartoonists, web comics creators and more. The guests will have their own work available for sale. Some people will be doing sketches and selling original artwork. Others will have t-shirts, buttons and posters. All of them have one thing in common… a love of comics.

For our 2014 show MeCAF is moving to a new venue: The Portland Company Complex located at 58 Fore Street in downtown Portland, ME. This wonderful waterfront facility offers more exhibition space, free WiFi, as well as attached panel and workshop areas to accommodate our growing festival. The festival opens to the public at 10:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm. Admission is only $5.00. Children 12 and under get in free.

Guests include Kazu Kibushi (Amulet, Harry Potter), Sean Murphy (The Wake, Punk Rock Jesus), Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules), Colleen AF Venable (Guinea PIg: Pet Shop Private Eye), Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl), James Sturm (Adventures in Cartooning), Joe Quinones (Marvel and DC Comics artist), Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb (Adventure Time), Zack Giallongo (Broxo, Star Wars: Ewoks), Maris Wicks (Primates), and over 100 other comics creators! More to be announced soon!

RSVP on Facebook!

PA – The Dumbest Idea Ever Release Party

Press Release:

Award winning author/cartoonist of the hit graphic novel series “Amelia Rules!”, Jimmy Gownley, will be making a special appearance at the ToonSeum on March 8th, 2014.

In his latest book, “THE DUMBEST IDEA EVER!”, published by Scholastic, Gownley reflects about his experiences as a teenage cartoonist. Growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, Gownley began publishing his own comics “Shades of Gray” while he was still in high school.

On March 8th, 2014 as part of Will Eisner Week, the ToonSeum invites parents and children for a special presentation with Jimmy Gownley. Gownley will explain the creative process through drawing and personal anecdotes, and how simple events from everyday life can lead to exciting and creative ideas for stories and art.

In addition, students will learn the five simple places they can look to unlock their own creativity and even create their own comic book character out of their shared experiences.

Gownley has been a guest lecturer at The School at Columbia University, Fordham University, The Pennsylvania Library Association Conference, The Novello Conference and many others. He has been Artist in Residence at The Charles M. Shulz Museum and Research Center, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, and his work is a part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art in New York City.

Gownely has also received several major awards including the 2007 Cybil award for best graphic novel, Junior Library Guild selection four times and nominated for 13 Eisner Awards and 6 Harvey Nominations. Copies of “THE DUMBEST IDEA EVER!” will be available for purchase.

The presentation begins on March 8th at 1pm.

The ToonSeum
945 Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15222

The Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway

Press Release:

New York, NY — Author and illustrator Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules) has teamed up with Brodart, Diamond Book Distributors, and GraphicNovelReporter.com to donate his talent and his time to create the promotional artwork for The $20,000+ Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway at the American Library Association’s (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans taking place June 24 to June 27.

The Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway awards one library a collection of over 700 hand-selected graphic novels for adults, teens, and children as well as fixtures and furniture. The entire prize will be displayed in Booth #1760 at ALA in a library setting with shelving, spinner racks, lounge seating, reading tables and chairs, accent tables and more. The contest is open to public, school and academic librarians in the continental United States. Eligible librarians can enter to win during ALA Exhibit Hours on Friday June 24 through Sunday June 26, with the Grand Prize Drawing on Monday, June 27.

“Libraries were among the first and biggest supporters of me and Amelia Rules! It was an honor for me to provide the artwork for this incredible giveaway,” said Jimmy Gownley.

“The sponsors appreciate Jimmy contributing these eye-catching graphics, which will give us the opportunity to draw attention to this prize that celebrates graphic novels and their popularity in libraries,” said Carol Fitzgerald from GraphicNovelReporter.com on behalf of all the sponsors.

Participating publisher sponsors, beyond the title sponsors include:
Abrams, Ape Entertainment, Candlewick Press, Capstone, Creative Arts Unlimited Inc., Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, First Second Books, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Lerner Publishing Group, Marvel, Oni Press, Penguin Young Readers Group, Random House, Rosen Publishing, Round Table Comics, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Toon Books, Top Cow Productions, Top Shelf Productions, Unshelved, Viper Comics, VIZ Media, W.W. Norton, and Zenescope Entertainment.

The first $20,000 Great Graphic Novel Library Giveaway (at Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in April) was a huge success, with libraries from all over the state of Texas entering to win hundreds of graphic novels as well as library shelving and furniture. The winner was Weslaco Public Library, represented by Eduardo Zepeda.

For more information please visit: http://www.shopbrodart.com/ala#giveaway

About Brodart Co.
Since 1939 libraries have been able to turn to Brodart for everything from shelf-ready books to electronic ordering systems, high quality furniture, and supplies. Brodart serves libraries from the Northwest Territories to the Pacific Rim, with facilities in the United States and Canada.

About Diamond Book Distributors
Diamond Book Distributors is a division of Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books and related merchandise. Diamond Book Distributors is dedicated to making a wide selection of graphic novels and other pop culture collectibles available to the book market.

About GraphicNovelReporter.com
GraphicNovelReporter.com is the newest website from TheBookReportNetwork.com (TBRN), which includes a group of six Internet sites featuring original content about books and authors. Since 1996, these sites — led by flagship site Bookreporter.com — have become the gathering places for a large and devoted audience of readers and book buyers. Monthly more than 1.6 million unique visitors come to the sites in the Network, making it the largest non-commercial group of book websites on the Internet. In addition, the company offers Internet design/development, marketing/publicity and resource services.