THE INTERNATIONAL COMIC ARTS FORUM, OCT. 18-20

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540

September 27, 2007

Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact: Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TO HOST 12TH ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMIC ARTS FORUM, OCT. 18-20

The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress will host the 12th annual meeting of the International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF), which will feature the Malaysian cartoonist Lat, the versatile comic artist Kyle Baker and many comic art scholars from around the world.

The three-day forum starts at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18, and ends at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. Made possible by support from the Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, the forum is free and open to the public.

The first day of the conference will conclude with time to view two displays of cartoon art prepared by specialists from two divisions of the Library of Congress:
• “Treasures of Caricature Art,” selections of drawings and prints from the Library’s outstanding holdings of comic art, will be on view from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Room 339, on the third floor of the Madison Building. The display will be organized by division curators Sara W. Duke and Martha H. Kennedy.
• Cartoon art by Malaysian cartoonist Lat, selections from the Library’s holdings in the Asian Division, will be on view from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Asian Division Reading Room, Room 150 in the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., across the street from the Madison Building. The display will be organized by division Southeast Asian specialist Kathryn Wellen.

Lat (Mohammed Nor Khalid), the guest artist from Malaysia, will speak at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, in the Mumford Room of the Madison Building. Comic artist Kyle Baker will speak at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, also in the Mumford Room. The gathering of ICAF will feature 20 presentations by scholars and experts in the study of comic arts.

A special panel discussion, “Iconophobia: Comics, Politics and the Power of the Image,” will take place from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, at George Washington University’s Gelman Library. Cartoonists Lat and Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher, Robert Russell of the Cartoonists Rights Network International and others will participate in the panel, which will be moderated by Marc Singer.

For a list of event activities, visit www.internationalcomicartsforum.org.

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PR07-195
9/27/07
ISSN: 0731-3527