The World of Cartooning

Just a quick note on some very exciting upcoming events, outside the United States, that I've been invited to participate in.

In Mid-October I will be traveling to Algiers for the 2009 Festival International de la Bande Dessinee d’Alger, an international cartoon festival in its 2nd year. I'll be participating on a panel of women cartoonists from Africa and the Middle East. Can you imagine my thrill at getting to meet and speak with a woman cartoonist from the Congo? Or South Africa? 

I will be one of only two US representatives (editorial cartoonist Daryl Cagle will be the other). I will also be doing a forum on competing in a "man's world", which I'm guessing is very different for these women than for me, at this point in time.  My sense is that they are just beginning their fight to be taken seriously. Or have their chosen topics taken seriously.

I struggled in the early days of my career against an attitude of "we already have a woman cartoonist, why do we need another?"  Thankfully, we have grown beyond this idea of quota here in the US, recognizing that women all have different perspectives and appeal to a universal audience. But I think this struggle is still present elsewhere.

(And my sense is, for African American cartoonists, it's still happening here. We have one in our paper... why do we need another? If you don't know Candorville, Darrin Bell addressed this issue not too long ago, staging an "everyone do the same joke" event to make the point that race does not define the cartoonist.)

From Algiers I will travel to Morocco, where I will speak with women artists and cartoonists, and appear in schools in Casablanca, Rabat and Tangiers.

IF THAT WEREN'T ENOUGH... in November I'll be traveling with Habitat for Humanity International to Chiang Mai, Thailand, to participate in a Women Build project there. As readers may know, Val and Joan are licensed by Habitat to promote the Women Build program. We are all extremely honored to be part of Habitat's very excellent mission. And with some luck, we may get to meet Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter in Chiang Mai. Val really wants and autograph!

Comments

[Cathie Richardson]

Congratulations on your up coming trip! I love your cartoon strip, I read it in my local paper. It is one of my favorites, your characters are great and illustration/line work wonderful. Thanks for the post info on the "What It Is" book, sounds like something I would really like to read.

[Jack]

Awesome that you're so involved with Habitat for Humanity. It's a great organization, of course, and well worth everyone's support. For some inspiration, check out this video -- ahamoment.com/pg/moments/view/4910 -- about the "aha moment" of one Habitat volunteer and her passion for staying involved. I think you'll be able to relate.

Best,
[email protected]

[Tony]

Why do you make the daughter character so negative about school. Does she want to work for min. wage her whole life and not leave home till she is 30?!

[Jan Eliot]

Tony... she's 13.
On WednesdaySep 23, 2009, at 1:34 PM, [email protected] wrote:

[Maya]

WoW. That is so cool. I love Stone Soup. Keep the strips coming I laugh each day