Getting to Know Two Local Graphic Novelists

We asked our authors to do a little 20 question quiz. No, not one of those you find in Elle magazine...much more literary then that! Local authors Manny Trembley and Eric Anderson work together so they decided to answer together as well. In fact, I am beginning to wonder if they aren't maybe the same person with a split personality. They seem inseparable. You'll get to hear about their work as graphic novelists during the festival. But here is just some fun insight into the psyche of the two(?) GNers.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Manny- White Chocolate Raspberry Mochas. I mean, the pursuit of creating content. It's always on my mind to tell stories. Spewing out narrative, in any form gets me excited.
Eric- Chocolate Cherry Mochas. And also telling those story things. And watching lots of movies. So we can steal their ideas for use in creating a comics empire.

What is your motto?

We don't have one but here you go:"Create the content you want to see in the market." Don't pander to the man or the woman or the child for that matter. Make "your" entertainment.

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Manny- Short. Stocky. Balding.
Eric- Tall. Stocky. Hirsute.

What is your favorite (or least favorite) word and why?

Manny- Curmudgeon is a sweet word, so is austere and velour. I'm partial to quandary and meander too.
Eric- Ooh, good question. I'm going to have to go with "octagonal." It's got everything: tentacles, cage matches…you name it.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Eric- Manny says "rad-tacular" a lot. It's really annoying.

Who are your favorite heroes/heroines of fiction and why?

Manny- Don Quixote: The representation that chivalry is both alive and dead, all wrapped up in one character. Eric - Easy question, Kermit the Frog because he represents every man and yet he is green and not a man.

Who are your favorite heroes/heroines in real life (dead or alive) and why?

Manny- Dan Cragg, my High School art teacher. Cliché, I know. But there it is. He pushed me as much as he encouraged me. My aunt Jean bought me my first art table. That's got to count for something special in the worlds of artsy-ness.

Choose three people, dead or alive, to invite to dinner. What would you talk about?

Manny- Chuck Jones, Mr. T., and Will Ferrell. I wouldn't direct the conversation, I'd simply watch Mr. T's gold chains sway to the wild riffing of Will and Chuck. It'd be hypnotic. Eric- Jim Henson, Hayao Miyazaki, and George Lucas. After dinner, Jim, Hayao, and I would berate George for making the last 3 Star Wars flicks.

What are your favorite names and/or how do you name your characters?

Weatherby Ian Poppington III and Wikkity Jones. Manny came up with Wikkity and Eric birthed Weatherby. They were both created to represent the absurdity of both characters. I think we succeeded.

What is the first job (or the best job) you ever had?

Manny- McDonalds. Half priced food was a HUGE reward.
Eric- I worked in a little antique shop and repaired lamps. I never managed to electrocute myself even once. Shame, really.

What natural gift would you most like to possess?

Manny- Juggling cats. I can kind of juggle, but if I could juggle cats, the world would be my oyster cracker.
Eric- Laser vision. That's "natural," right?

What has been your favorite journey?

Manny- My marriage to my wife. Not to get all sentimental on you. But being married rocks the box.
Eric- Sorry, I can't answer this because I'm still too misty-eyed from Manny's answer.

What would be your perfect day?

Manny- Waking as I see fit to slither over to the creative weigh station to write, draw, or drink delicious beverages of choice; a simple day indeed.
Eric- Same thing Manny said… only less meaningless weigh station references. It'd be nice to make a living just telling stories and making content—maybe someday.

What makes you laugh out loud?

Manny- Bad puns.
Eric- Jokes about pirates.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Manny- Beef jerky.
Eric- Expensive electronics.

What item are you never caught without or what item is your most treasured possession?

Manny- Treasured possession is my stacks and stacks of art that I completely mistreat. I love it, but I keep it on my floor. My wife had a special cabinet made to store it, but up until recently, I stored it in disorganized stacks. I took pride in those piles of landfill.
Eric- My turn to be sentimental. I'm going to say "my wife," although I guess counting her as a possession means that I might like… end up selling her or something or like losing her at cards. That didn't end up as sentimental as I intended.

What is the oldest item of clothing you still wear…what's the story?

Manny- I still have my baseball glove I had when I was kid and I still use it. It's a Cooper.
Eric- I still wear an old pair of antique eyeglasses I picked up like 15 years ago. They are oh-so-comfortable. And un-trendy!

Do you have a good scar story?

Manny- My sister chipped her tooth on my head. Does that count?
Eric- No, only the emotional kind.

If you could choose what or who to come back as, what would it be?

Manny- I have no interest in coming back.
Eric- I'd come back as me, only hopefully less stupid next time.

What would you like to be your epitaph?

Manny- The date I was born and the day I died. Those would be good things to have. Beneficial for all those grave robbers to identify how decayed I am. Oh, and I'd like my name—for clarity.
Eric- I'd try and break into Manny's graveyard and change his epitaph to "Free Headstone."

Bonus: Finish the sentence, "If I ruled the world ..."

Manny- "If I ruled the world ...I'd rule the world."
Eric- No bonus homework for me. It's the weekend.

Graphic Novels, from Post-it Notes to Publisher
Saturday, April 18 at the Spokane Club (1:00)
Two Spokane comics creators discuss the ups and downs of creating graphic novel content for both the web and print. Eric Anderson and Manny Trembley have created two original graphic novels as well as two mini-series published through Image Comics. They will share their experiences breaking in to the comics industry and be happy to answer questions as well.

Proud to Speak Poetry Out Loud!

On Thursday, February 5, Get Lit! Programs will be hosting the regional 2009 Poetry Out Loud competition at the MAC. Join us as students from area high schools--Bryant, Central Valley, East Valley, Havermale, Mead, Okanagan, and Phoenix--compete by reciting both classical and contemporary poetry. Last year, Kevin Ma and Sarah Woodroof from Mead High School (Kevin's the second on the left) were our regional finalists that we sent to state. We hear they might be coming back again this year...

Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry - recitation and performance. The program builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among youth. Through Poetry Out Loud, students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. The program is sponsored by the Washington State Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation.

In 2008, BreAnna Jones, a 10th grader from West Valley High School in Yakima won the state competition and went to Washington, DC for the nationals.

Winners advance from classroom competitions to school-wide, then regional, and then state level competitions, with one student from each state going to the National Finals. Each winner at the state level will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, to compete for the national championship. Poetry Out Loud will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends at the National Finals.

This event runs from 6pm to 8pm and is free.

Updike on Creative Writing

“I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing... as a mode of truth telling, self-expression and homage to the twin miracles of creation and consciousness. ”
John Updike in his 2005 NPR This I Believe essay "Testing the Limits of What I Know and Feel"

On January 27, novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic John Hoyer Updike put down his pen forever. Through his 76 years, he was a prolific writer, publishing more than twenty-five novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as poetry, art criticism, literary criticism and children's books. He received Pulitzers for his books Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest.

The Washington Post hails him as a "prolific chronicler of small-town angst" who wrote "finely polished novels and stories exploring the virtues, vices and spent hopes of America's small towns and suburbs." The New York Times describes him as "endowed with an art student’s pictorial imagination, a journalist’s sociological eye and a poet’s gift for metaphor" and "this country’s one true all-around man of letters."

This amazing man touched many. Today, The New Yorker published Updike tributes from George Saunders, Antonya Nelson, Paul Theroux and more. He published hundreds of stories, reviews, and poems in the magazine, starting in 1954.

As a way of saying farewell to an American icon. Get Lit! wants to know, what is your favorite Updike piece? Did he or his work influence your writing, reading, thinking, or living? Let us know.

Ellen Wittlinger Tells it Like it Is

One of the most featured authors of teen book sites and MySpace discussions is joining us for our Young Adult event on Sunday, April 19.

Ellen Wittlinger is a former children’s librarian, Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate, and Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center fellow (twice!) who writes YA books that realistically portrays the issues of today's teenagers. She doesn’t shy away from controversial topics such as oral sex and gay teens coming out, which caused residents in Alabama to try to censor her novel Sandpiper, while high schoolers all over the country devour her books.

Ellen started out as a poet and published Breakers in 1979. It wasn’t until she had two kids of her own and was working as a children’s librarian that she thought of writing for the YA market. She found her true calling; after two other successful novels, Hard Love was published in 1999 and became an American Library Association Michael L. Printz Honor Book, a Lambda Literary Award winner, and a Booklist Editors' Choice. She wrote nine more great books for the YA audience. Her most recent, Love & Lies, is a companion book to the award-winning Hard Love. In it, Marisol returns to accomplish two things: write a novel and to fall in love. “Marisol remains the character we came to know and love in Hard Love: unflinching, unsentimental, and wickedly funny. She is one of the most realistic lesbian characters ever to appear in a young adult novel. " -- K. T. Horning, Worth the Trip

But you don't have to be a teenager to enjoy Ellen’s books! Check out to these interviews conducted by the various audiences who love Ellen Wittlinger’s prose: Author profile on teenreads.com, Teacher Trenches: An Interview with Ellen Wittlinger, and Ravenstone Press’ Authors Among Us - Children's Writers Who Are or Who Have Been Librarians. See you all on the 19!

Greatest Living Canadian Gives us the Big Picture

When the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) asked their viewers to rate their greatest citizens, David Suzuki came in fifth. But that's not a bad placement, the people preceding him were all dead. This very much alive award-winning scientist, environmentalist, broadcaster, and author works hard to sustain, not only his own, but all life on our planet. He’s been awarded 22 honorary degrees for his work of popularizing science and environmental issues.

Suzuki served as a full Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. He is professor emeritus at UBC's Sustainable Development Research Institute. His broadcasting career includes Suzuki on Science, Science Magazine, The Nature of Things, A Planet for the Taking, the critically acclaimed PBS series The Secret of Life, and the Discovery Channel series The Brain: The Universe Within. He’s also written more than forty books.

In 1990, he founded the David Suzuki Foundation with his wife, Dr. Tara Cullis. Through this non-profit, they champion sustainably and uses science and education to promote solutions that help conserve nature. According to Time Magazine, “Suzuki has become one of the crucial hubs in the cultural ecology of our strained earth. Biologists talk about keystone species essential for the proper function of an ecosystem; Suzuki is a keystone guy.”

Please join us on April 18 to hear this remarkable man read from his latest book: The Big Picture.

For a preview of the treat you’re in for, watch these interviews of David Suzuki on YouTube and Google Video. To read some of his latest articles, please visit the Science Matters archive.

Welcome Literary Librarians!

Get Lit! is super excited to be partnering with WLA to bring Jane Smiley to our 2009 festival. We can't wait to meet meet the WLAers at Jane's reading on Thursday, April 16th. But why spend only one evening with us? Library professionals are some of our favorite people and we'd love to get to know you better.

If you are one of the WLA conference attendees in April, why not extend your stay through the weekend? We have a fantastic line-up of author readings, workshops, and community panels for you to enjoy.

On Saturday April 18, if you are interested in writing, you can participate in our workshops ($25 each) on playwriting, screenwriting, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or editing. Or you can check out our FREE community panels on topics such as: battling censorship, writing for children, online storytelling, the art of graphic novels, and Jane Austen. We also invite you to enjoy our KPBX Kids Concert "Songs and Stories from Around the World" with storyteller Margaret Lippert and the Spokane Area Children's Chorus at the Bing Theater. Or visit a local library to listen to other festival authors reading around town: Sherry Jones and Glenda Burgess at the South Hill Library, Samuel Green and Oliver de la Paz at the Downtown Library, or Kathryn Trueblood and Martha Silano at the North Spokane Library.

After enjoying dinner in one of Spokane's many great restaurants, why not spend the evening listening to environmental writer and activist David Suzuki ($20) speak and read from his book The Big Picture along with Pulitzer-prize winning author William Dietrich?

On Sunday April 19, join us for coffee, tea, and poetry with leading British poet, Simon Armitage ($10). He's short listed to be the new UK Poet Laureate! At 1pm. the Young Adult author Ellen Wittlinger will read from her latest, Love and Lies and talk about the award-winning Hard Love.

For more information visit our new festival website, or contact Dani Ringwald at 509 368-6590.

We look forward to seeing you in April! The conference planners have been working hard, so I know you're in for a treat.