Gene Yang: Keynote Speaker
Categories: Features
On Saturday, June 19, 2010, the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis partnered with Hennepin County Library to offer an all-day event called the Graphic Novel & Comic Book Writing & Illustrating Conference. I’ve been posting (irregularly, forgive me) the complete tutorial that Lars Martinson delivered on self-publishing at that event and now it seems Hennepin County has posted the complete Gene Yang keynote speech on their Vimeo page.
Yang spoke primarily about his history with comics from childhood through today and he very sweetly and comedically punctuated the presentation with emoticons representing his parents’ satisfaction with his cartooning career over time.
The conference was a big success and they’re considering hosting another next year. Pretty much everyone in the audience was new to me and I suspect many of them were new to comics. For them especially, I think Yang’s talk was really illuminating and welcoming. His talk was the kind of introduction I think most people would really respond to if they’d never read a comic before.
Really, it was the kind of talk and kind of day that would inspire anyone to start a lifelong relationship with comics as both a reader and creator. I really encourage you to watch this video and share it with a friend. I imagine sharing this with my mom and having her “get” comics and why they’d be important to me for maybe the first time.
– Sarah Morean
