For Immediate Release
Contact: Eden Miller
Small Press Expo Announces Keith Knight, Craig Thompson, Ebony Flowers, Hannah Templer, Ben Passmore & Lucy Knisley as Special Guests for 2019. Bethesda, Maryland - July 2, 2019 Media Release - Small Press Expo is proud to announce another group of guests of Special Guests for SPX 2019. The festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday, September 14-15, at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center and will have over 650 creators, 280 exhibitor tables, over 20 programming slots and additional hands-on workshops to introduce attendees to the amazing world of independent and small press comics. Additional Special Guests will be announced soon. SPX 2019 is honored to have the following creators as Special Guests to this year's show: | | Keith Knight, winner of the Glyph, Harvey, and Inkpot Awards, is a spectacular and amazing cartoonist whose Knight Life comic strip is read nationwide in such newspapers as the Washington Post. Knight Life was optioned for a television series and is currently under development by Hulu with the title Woke. Keef's funny yet hard-hitting cartoons in his webcomic series, (th)ink and The K Chronicles, led him to be named one of the 2015 NAACP History Makers. Knight is the illustrator of the critically acclaimed tween book, Jake the Fake Keeps It Real. Keef has a new collection coming out this Fall called (th)ink: It's the Racism, Stupid! | | | | | Craig Thompson is a cartoonist and the author of the award-winning books Blankets; Good-bye, Chunky Rice; and Habibi. He was born in Michigan in 1975, and grew up in a rural farming community in central Wisconsin. His graphic novel Blankets won numerous industry awards and has been published in nearly twenty languages. Thompson lives in Portland, Oregon.
Now, for the first time in his career, Thompson is working in serial form, in a bimonthly comic book series. Part memoir, part travelogue, part essay—all comic book—Ginseng Roots explores class divide, agriculture, holistic healing, the 300 year long trade relationship between China and North America, childhood labor, and the bond between two brothers. | | Ebony Flowers was born and raised in Maryland. She holds a BA in Biological Anthropology from the University of Maryland College Park and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she wrote her dissertation as a comic (mostly). Ebony is a 2017 Rona Jaffe Award recipient. She lives in Denver, CO. Hot Comb is her first collection of short stories published by Drawn & Quarterly.
Hot Comb offers a poignant glimpse into Black women's lives and coming of age stories as seen across a crowded, ammonia-scented hair salon while ladies gossip and bond over the burn. | | | | | Hannah Templer is a queer cartoonist and graphic designer. In addition to writing and drawing Cosmoknights (Top Shelf Productions), they are the artist for GLOW (IDW Publishing, Netflix), and have also worked as a colorist, cover artist and interior artist on well-known titles such as Samurai Jack, Tomb Raider, and Jem and the Holograms. They enjoy life with their trusty dog Thistle and grumpy cat Noodle, and play tabletop roleplaying games as often as they can. | | Ben Passmore lives in Philly. His comics are about crime, monsters, anarchism, sexual dysfunction, police brutality, art theory, and his feels. Creator of DAYGLOAYHOLE and Goodbye, his comic Your Black Friend won the 2017 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Comic, as well as being nominated for an Eisner Award. His illustrations have appeared in publications such as including the New York Times, Irene, Now: The New Comics Anthology, and Believer Magazine. Ben contributes political/social editorial comics to The Nib, and his latest book is Bttm Fdrs with Ezra Claytan Daniels. | | | | | Lucy Knisley is a critically acclaimed and award-winning comic creator. She lives in Chicago.
She specializes in personal, confessional graphic novels and travelogues.
Her last name is confusing and has a silent K. It's pronounced kind-of like "nigh-slee." | | Small Press Expo (SPX) is the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels, and alternative political cartoons. SPX is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings together more than 650 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, and distributors each year. Graphic novels, mini comics, and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. The expo includes a series of panel discussions and interviews with this year's guests.
The Ignatz Award is a festival prize held every year at SPX recognizing outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning, with the winners chosen by attendees at the show.
As in previous years, profits from the SPX will go to support the SPX Graphic Novel Gift Program, which funds graphic novel purchases for public and academic libraries. For more information on the Small Press Expo, please visit http://www.smallpressexpo.com. | | Small Press Expo P.O. Box 5704 Bethesda, Maryland 20824 | | | | | | |
