mariko tamaki news

So there are many awesome things that happened this past couple days.

First and foremost, Skim won the Doug Wright Award for Best Book.  This was a pretty cool topper for Skim, which was originally the winner of an honourable mention plaque back when it was just a little Kiss Machine Mini Comic.  One of the jury members, Mr. Bob Rae, recorded a little “message to the authors” for us, which was pretty cool.  Apparently Bob Rae is now toting Skim around and showing it to all his friends.  Kind of a thrill.  Also I found out that host Don McKellar knows my Best Body Bootcamp buddy.  Kind of an interesting Toronto moment.

It was great to be in a room with so many people who have been so instrumental to Skim’s continued success, including Seth, Chester, and Brad, who were so amazing during this past year.  As well as Patsy Aldana, our amazing publisher, Groundwood Books, who came to cheer us on.  Charissa got some pics on her iphone which I will post later.  In the meantime, here is our awesome trophy.

Frequent followers will note that, for the FIRST time, Skim gets a trophy and it gets to live with ME - cuz we got it here in Toronto and it doesn’t fly very well.  Of course, since the Doug Wright dudes are so awesome, they gave Jillian something to take home as well.

Jillian has the Ignatz Brick.  I get the Doug Wright (big) trophy.  We need to figure out some sort of custody sharing I suppose.  I’d love a photo of the Ignatz.  You know.  Just to see how it’s doing….

The rest of TCAF was pretty wicked.  I got to see just about all my favourite artists/authors, including: Matt Forsythe (who won the Pigskin Peters award for non-traditional avante-garde work Ojingogo (which rocks)), Steve Rolston, Ross Campbell, Adriane Tomine, and Jeff Lemire to name a few were all there.  Plus I got to hang with MINX alumni Cecil Castellucci.

I now have a MASS of comics to read including the Doug Wright collection - which is lovely and huge and SIGNED by Seth, and a host of others.

In other news, the most recent edition of Skim, released by the UK’s Walker Books, is now out and I have a couple copies.  I love the cover.
If any of my peeps are DYING for a copy of Skim in British, let me know.

That’s all for now!  Getting ready for Barcelona - we leave in a few weeks!

Big loves to all the people who made TCAF so lovely this year.

Let the countdown begin!

This Friday, May 8th, I will be at the big TCAF party at Harbourfront (also home of my favourite dim sum place) to kick off the festivities harbour style with many fantastic artists.

So there’s THIS fabulous event….

..followed by this ass kicking little feature….

Then on Saturday, Jillian and I will be at
Toronto Comic Arts Festival - Exhibition Day 1
Saturday May 9th, 10am-5pm
Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St.
(Just north of Bloor, at Bloor/Yonge TTC)
FREE

Many cool artists will be there.

Jillian and I will be at the Doug Wright table from 2-2:30 pm.  So come and visit us!

For WAY more information, go to the TCAF site here.

See you all soon!

Myself and many cool TO artists are in the AGO in fabulous clothes in this edition of Toronto Life.

Note.

a) I had no idea how expensive the dress I was wearing was. Holy crap.
b) Still haven’t been to the AGO aside from this shoot!
c) Must go buy fabulous gloves they gave me to wear - and then took back.
d) You can hardly see my shoes, but they are awesome.

In other news.

Skim has been nominated for four Eisner Awards, including Best Publication for Teens/Tweens, Best Graphic Album - New, Best Writer and Best Penciller/Inker.

How fricking lovely is that?  Pretty lovely.

The awards are announced at the Comic Con International in San Diego.

Maybe I’ll go!

In other news, some of my favorite books and series were also nominated.

For Best Continuing Series: Fables, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Niko Henrichon, Andrew Pepoy, and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC) (*James Jean was nommed for his cover art).

For Best Anthology: Best American Comics 2008, edited by Lynda Barry (Houghton Mifflin)

For Best Graphic Album - New: Swallow Me Whole, by Nate Powell (Top Shelf)

For Best Comics-Related Book Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden (First Second)

The list goes on.

AND!

I got grant to go to BARCELONA to launch Spanish language translation of SKIM by Ediciones La Cupula. Sweet.

AND

(last but not least)

I got nominated for Joe Shuster award for both Skim and Emiko Superstar.  Mr Rolston got some noms too.  As did Miss Cecil. And Ray Fawkes.  yay.

That’s it for now, yo.

Take care all!

m

Doug Wright Awards announce 2009 finalists

Filmmaker Don McKellar to host 5^th annual Canadian comics awards at the Art Gallery of Ontario

March 16, 2009 — Representing everything from the funny and the forthright, to the traditional and the avant-garde, the finalists for the 2009 Doug Wright Awards (DWAs) were released today in Toronto.

Founded in 2004 to recognize the best in English-language graphic novels and comics, The Doug Wright Awards have grown into one of Canada’s premier cartooning events.

This year’s eclectic batch of nominees range from first-person travelogues and heart-felt autobiography, to brainy historical comedy and post-modern gag cartoons. 

The 2009 finalists for Best Book are:

Burma Chronicles Guy Delisle (Drawn and Quarterly)
Drop-in Dave Lapp (Conundrum Press)
Paul Goes Fishing Michel Rabagliati (Drawn and Quarterly)
Skim Jillian & Mariko Tamaki (Groundwood Books) 

The 2009 finalists for Best Emerging Talent are:

Kate Beaton (History Comics)
Caitlin Black (Maids of the Mist)

Jesse Jacobs (Blue Winter, Shapes in the Snow)
Jason Kieffer (Kieffer #2)
Nick Maandag (Jack & Mandy)

The finalists for the DWAs second annual Pigskin Peters Award, which recognizes avant-garde comics and non-traditional works, are:

Hall of Best Knowledge Ray Fenwick (Fantagraphics)
Ojingogo Matthew Forsythe (Drawn and Quarterly)

All We Ever Do is Talk About Wood Tom Horacek (Drawn and Quarterly)
Small Victories Jesse Jacobs

Established in 2008, the Pigskin Peters Award is named after a popular character in the classic Canadian comic strip Birdseye Center by cartoonist Jimmie Frise. In 1948, Doug Wright inherited Frise’s strip and would continue to draw it for the next two decades.

This year, the Wright Awards will induct Frise (who died in 1948) into The Giants of the North Hall of Fame for Canadian cartooning.

The DWAs are also pleased to announce that filmmaker Don McKellar will host this year’s awards ceremony, which will be held at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s (AGO) Jackman Hall. A Gemini- and Tony-award-winning actor, writer and director, McKellar is a long-time comics’ fan and served as a jury member for the inaugural Wright Awards in 2005. 

The winners of the Best Emerging Talent and Best Book trophies will de decided by the 2009 DWA jury which includes; Bob Rae (Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and 21st premier of Ontario), Andrew Coyne (national editor for Maclean’s and political panelist on CBC Television’s The National), Martin Levin (books editor for The Globe and Mail and contributor to What I Meant to Say), cartoonist Joe Ollmann (author of the 2007 DWA Best Book This Will All End in Tears) and cartoonist Diana Tamblyn, the Ignatz-nominated author of several mini-comics including The Rosie Stories and There You Were.

A featured event of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF), the 2009 Doug Wright Awards will take place on Sat. May 9, 2009 at 7:00 pm.

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About The Doug Wright Awards

The Doug Wright Awards are a non-profit organization formed in 2004 to honour the lasting legacy of the late, great Canadian cartoonist Doug Wright. The annual awards recognize emerging cartooning talent and comics-based works published in English (including first translated editions). To be eligible, a work must be a first edition full length or a collection, written by a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada.

For more information, please contact:

Brad Mackay

Director

The Doug Wright Awards

613-255-2050

brad@wrightawards.ca

www.wrightawards.ca

About the Art Gallery of Ontario

With a permanent collection of more than 73,000 works of art, the Art Gallery of Ontario is among the most distinguished art museums in North America. The Gallery began an extraordinary chapter when it launched Transformation AGO in 2002. Multi-faceted in scope, Transformation AGO involves the unprecedented growth of the permanent collection, an innovative architectural expansion by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, and the strengthening of the museum’s endowment resources. As the imaginative centre of the city, the transformed AGO dramatically enriches our visitors’ experiences and provides greater access to the full vibrancy of the art museum.

Just got back from the NYC Comic Con.  Holy cow what a crazy show!  Got my brand new Scott Pilgrim, my long overdue Wet Moon 4, and some new Fables.  Also spent some time on some wicked panels.

Here’s the run down from Blog@Newsarama on the Women in Comics panel I was on - or kind of snuck my way onto care of Jillian.

More after I’ve unpacked!

This morning YALSA (The Young Adult Student Library Services) announced its TOP TEN lists for 2009.  Skim made two top tens.

Best Books for Young Adults

&

Great Graphic Novels for Teens

Books and writers I love appeared in both categories.  I am officially now way behind on my awesome YA reading and will now dedicate myself to moving beyond the couch surfing I’ve been doing this past month and heading back to the books.  Or something. You know what I mean.

In other news next week both Jillian and I will be at the New York Comic Convention, which should be fairly awesome.  I am bringing my friend Ali with me.  We have opted to take the “all dim sum” route to NYC cuisine.  Anyone who wants to join us is welcome.

Me on the CKUT show Queer Corps.  You just have to click the little sound icon and download the December the 8th show.

New least favorite/hardest question;  “Who IS Skim?”

Always come up with the lamest answers.

Hey all,

This past October I got a chance to meet Mr. Robin McConnell from INKSTUDS, and we did a little interview, which you can how hear here.

Thanks to Mr. Rolston for supervising the whole thing.  How gallant.

A fairly awesome review of Emiko Superstar posted today.  It makes me so happy when people write this kind of stuff about mine and Steve’s little MINX creation.  The best part of writing the book was all the stuff I managed to check out for my research: stuff about the first Factory theatre, stuff about The Factory in Manchester, stuff about Warhol in general and all the art and artists and drama that were spawned by that scene.

Some notable flicks to check out if you’re into doing a little fringe research:

Superstar in a Housedress (2004)
- a super amazing documentary about the legendary Jackie Curtis, who was clearly so much more than a Factory sensation

I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
- a more obvious choice but I enjoyed watching it again, Lily Taylor clearly rocks in her portrayal of Feminist great Valeries Solanas

24 Hour Party People (2002)
- Michael Winterbottom does Tony Curtis - the mock documentary film inside a film
- I just love how this film is put together, a way of looking at a life and also considering the ways we can reflect back upon a public life like the one Curtis has lived.

Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (2000)
- another AMAZING documentary about one of the less lauded anti-heroes of the whole Warhol scene
- Berlin is genius and warped and this movie does an amazing job of capturing her life and work
- it’s like Grey Gardens in New York

This past week the CBC morning show aired its fifth annual “Great Canadian Word” segment, in which nominees for the Governor General’s Award get to talk about their favourite Canadian words.  I was lucky enough to be asked to appear.  Follow the link to find my own personal favourite.