What is a Graphic Novel?

Benjamin Percy wrote the novel Refresh, Refresh, which was interpreted into a graphic novel by Danica Novgorodoff. Just what is a graphic novel?According to hbook.com, it is a book designed to entertain, educate, document and interpret social, historical and current events. Graphic novels are sequential and combine text with panels and images to tell a story. They range in length from a comic strip to a comic book to a full length graphic novel. While many believe that only young people read graphic novels, the truth is the average age of readers of this type of novel is 30. While large numbers of graphic novels and comics are written about superheroes, there are now many genres, including memoir, fantasy and historical novels. Due to the fact that there is less text and the story is easily followed through pictures, these books are enjoyed by reluctant readers, but also enjoyed by those who take pleasure from reading traditional books. For more information on graphic novels, please visit the following link.

Happy Friday

Happy Friday! Check out this great post by Melina over at Bark, on the importance of young adult and children's book writers.

"The whole event made me remember the squirming, secretive feeling of reading as a kid, the way the world of the book continued far out of the bounds of the book itself– I would be writing in the before and after and in-between scenes in my head while I was brushing my teeth in the morning and sitting bored and confused in math class. I would read while walking from my room to the dinner table and while climbing the stairs up to bed. And for some reason it seemed like this book-grip was the usual experience of reading for me, as opposed to now when it’s a rare and beautiful exception.

I’m sure I am not original in what I described above. But I do think in recent years I forgot the specific incomparability of what it felt like to read as a kid. And how much all that early absorption of alternate universes made me want to write. In some ways, I think good Young Adult writers are the most influential artists in our culture."

http://thebarking.com/2010/11/you-might-have-forgotten-from-where-you-remember-that/

100 Years After Death, Mark Twain Publishes New Autobiography

By an act of genius, Mark Twain is still alive, 100 years after his death.

On November 15, the first of three volumes of an autobiography he dictated during the last four years of his life will be published by the University of California Press.

For six years, a team of experts at the Mark Twain Project at Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, has been laboring over 5,000 pages of manuscript, and is now ready to present the 760-page volume. Within the next five years, the second and third volumes, each about 600 pages, will be released. Although parts of the autobiography have surfaced throughout the years, more than half of the entire work is previously unpublished.

Twain requested that the book be published a century after it was written so that he could speak his mind in complete freedom, without fear of losing his reputation or offending those he wrote about. And it does provide never-before-seen insight into Twain's thoughts. In addition to including his characteristically witty tales, Twain castigates the military and makes jabs at Wall Street tycoons.

Dictating the book also helped Twain speak freely without self-censoring. Written in a haphazard, stream-of-conscious manner, Twain proudly called the autobiography "a complete and purposed jumble." He also wrote to a friend that "The form of this book is one of the most memorable literary inventions of the ages. . . . It ranks with the steam engine, the printing press & the electric telegraph. I am the only person who has ever found out the right way to build an autobiography."

The collection is strikingly relevant, both politically and stylistically. Many are now calling Mark Twain the world's first blogger, and no doubt contemporary readers and writers will connect to his honest, blow-by-blow accounts of his thoughts.

You can read more about the autobiography on The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

2011 Festival Headliners Announced!

Drum roll, please!

Eastern Washington University's Get Lit! Programs is delighted to announce the headliners for our 2011 Get Lit! Festival, each presenting a distinct perspective on our theme of "Telling the American Story."

Tim O’Brien will discuss The Things They Carried, his classic collection of stories about American soldiers in the Vietnam War. Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab’s Wife, will present feminine perspectives on the classics. Matthew Dickman will be interviews as well as read from his All American Poem, an energetic depiction of our everyday experiences with pop culture and beauty.

Get ready for nonfiction writers Maude Barlow, global activist and author of international best seller Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water; and Sam Kean, sharing his creative take on the Periodic Table in New York Times bestseller The Disappearing Spoon.

Headlining children's writers include: Louise Borden, author of a myriad of books, including a dramatic, true tale about the creators of Curious George; Suzanne Morgan Williams, author of Bull Rider and other multicultural and historic nonfiction books for children; and Michael Harmon, the unconventional author of the youth books Skate, The Last Exit to Normal, and Brutal. Our musical headliner is singer and songwriter Ani DiFranco, who will perform original songs and spoken word.

Festival passes for the headlining events go on sale Friday, November 5 via TicketsWest or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT. By purchasing a pass, you will be saving $20-$25 off individual ticket costs and service fees. Passes gain admission to see Tim O’Brien (with Brian Turner), Sam Kean, Matthew Dickman, and, on Friday, either Sena Jeter Naslund (with Nancy Rawles) or Ani DiFranco in concert. The regular festival pass is $45. The pass that includes the Ani DiFranco concert ticket is $60 (quantity limited). (Note: individual DiFranco tickets go on sale November 5 for $35.)

Students will again get in free with a current high school or college ID to the headlining events (except DiFranco). Student tickets will be available at the college bookstores or they can get one at the door as space allows.

Mark your calendar for April 13-17 and start thinking about your own American story!