Queers & Comics brings LGBTQ cartoonists, comics writers, and artists together with scholars and fans in order to document the history and significance of queer comics. This conference spotlights the veterans of LGBTQ cartooning in North America and internationally, with forums for working artists to share their knowledge and to discuss how to navigate the comics industry. In lieu of traditional academic panels, roundtable discussions will foster lively and diverse dialogues about how queer comics reflect and critique queer culture. Queer comics publishers, editors, independent scholars, educators, and journalists are also encouraged to attend.

The Queers & Comics conference will offer two days of workshops, portfolio reviews, slideshow presentations, roundtable discussions, and an exhibition of queer cartoon art. All events will be live streamed and video will be archived for future viewing.

We invite proposals for workshops, readings, presentations, portfolio reviewers, and preformed roundtables (with a minimum of 3 discussants) as well as proposals by individual roundtable discussants which address the topics below. We welcome proposals from outside the U.S. and by LGBTQ cartoonists working pre-1980s, LGBTQ cartoonists of color, queer women cartoonists, artists and writers with disabilities, and trans cartoonists, as well as scholars from all of these backgrounds.

Possible Conference Topics – additions welcome:

• How a Comic is Made (writing, pencils, inks, coloring, traditional art and digital)
• Editing Queer Comics
• Publishing and/or Self-publishing: books, newspapers, magazines, comic books, webcomics, anthologies
• Black, Latin@, Asian/American, and Native LGBT and Queer Communities in/and Comics
• DIY, Zines, Mini-comics
• Working with/in Mainstream Comics (DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Archie, etc.)
• Cons and Fandom
• Our Bodies: biopolitics, health, sex and gender, aging, HIV, dis/ability
• Animation, Storyboarding, and Adaptation
• Manga and Anime
• Translation
• Bande Dessinée and French/Belgian Comics
• Alternative Comix
• Genres: Literature/Fiction, Fantasy, Journalism, History, Politics, Memoir, Essays, Serial Comics, etc.
• Histories of Queer Comics, especially Pre-1980s
• Sex/Porn/Erotica
• BDSM/Fetish
• Pedagogies: teaching through comics, reading or learning styles and neurodiversity, institutional practices in archives and libraries, etc.
• Teaching/Learning from Queer Comics

Proposals should include:
Description of proposal (250 words or less), biographical info (100 words or less) or one-page CV for each participant, audio-visual requests

Submit proposals via email to: queers.comics@gmail.com
Proposal Submission Deadline: November 3, 2014
Notifications by December 15

Watch for updates at http://www.clags.org/queers-comics
Follow @QueersComics on Twitter and Queers & Comics on Facebook