Gene Yang: National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
Special talk and presentation
Toronto Reference Library, Atrium, 789 Yonge Street
Wednesday, April 5th, 6:30pm-7:30pm
Free to attend

Award winning graphic novelist and literacy advocate Gene Luen Yang will appear at the Toronto Reference Library. On January 4, 2016, the Library of Congress, Every Child A Reader, and The Children?s Book Council, appointed Gene the fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2016-2017).

Throughout his career, Gene has advocated for the role of comics and graphic novels in promoting literacy and learning. On April 5, Gene will speak about his Reading Without Walls platform in this Toronto Public Library and Toronto Comic Arts Festival co-presentation.

About Gene Yang:

Gene Yang is the cartoonist behind books including the Printz-Award-winning American Born Chinese, as well as The Eternal Smile, Prime Baby, and Animal Crackers. He is the co-creator of The Shadow Hero with Sonny Liew, and Secret Coders with Mike Holmes, and has written for the hit comics Avatar: The Last Airbender and Superman. Gene Yang lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Benjamin Marra Talk
Wednesday, March 8th, from 6pm-7pm
at The University of Toronto, Alumni Hall room 400
121 St. Joseph Street, Toronto
Free to attend

Benjamin Marra is the notorious, controversional, and influential comic creator of the comic books Night Business, Gangsta Rap Posse, The Incredible Fantastic Adventiures of Maureen Dowd, and most recently, American Blood and Terror Assaulter. Marra has drawn comparisons to mainstrem masters like Paul Gulacy and Jim Steranko, as well as underground comix legends like Crumb and Spain, and even the Beat writers. His art is beyond the cutting edge. His work is in the cut itself.

Marra will speak at U of T as part of their “The Graphic Novel” program.

All are welcome, tickets not required.

Margaret Atwood & Angel Catbird: Saving Birds, Saving Cats
Featuring Margaret Atwood and Johnnie Christmas Launching Angel Catbird Volume 2, with host Mark Askwith
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017 @ 7:00PM
@ Toronto Reference Library, Atrium, 789 Yonge Street
Free to attend. No tickets required.

Book Sales provided by Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop

Margaret Atwood and Johnnie Christmas, creators of the graphic novel series Angel Catbird, come together in Toronto to present the launch volume 2 in the graphic novel series, in a wide-ranging interview hosted by Mark Askwith of SPACE.

This event will take place in Toronto Reference Library’s main Atrium. No tickets are required for this event and seating is first-come, first served. Angel Catbird is published in association with conservation charity Nature Canada’s Keep Cats Safe and Save Birds Lives initiative.

Illustration of Johnnie Christmas and Margaret Atwood, by Johnnie Christmas.

Image Comics Day
With Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals, Kaptara) & J. Bone (The Saviors)
Wednesday, February 1st, 2017, 6pm-8pm
@ The Beguiling, 319 College Street, Toronto
Free To Attend

Image Comics is turning 25 in February 2017, and they’re celebrating the occasion with a year-long party, kicking-off with Image Comics Day on February 1st! The Beguiling is participating in the party with a special signing event, featuring Image Comics Creators J. Bone (The Savoirs) and Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals, Kaptara)!

Chip and J. will join us at The Beguiling, 319 College Street, from 6pm-8pm. We should have lots of special Image Comics goodies on hand, including the new Image Classics books, and discounts and other giveaways from Image Comics and us here at The Beguiling!

So come on our to our new location on February 1st, and celebrate 25 years of Image!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

J. Bone is an Eisner-nominated comics creator living in Toronto, Canada. He is the illustrator and co-creator of The Saviors (with James Robinson) for Image Comics, released in trade paperback in 2016. His other work includes numerous collaborations with the late Darwyn Cooke, including the series DC: The New Frontier, and stints on popular characters including The Rocketeer, The Super-Friends, The Spirit, Batman, Spider-Man, X-Force/X-Statix, and The Justice League, and creator-owned series including The Owl in True Patriot, and Alison Dare for Oni Press (with J. Torres). His first work for Image was actually on the comic Witchblade Animated with writer Paul Dini.

Chip Zdarsky is a multi-talented comics creator living in Toronto, Canada. He is the co-creator and illustrator of the Time Magazine Book Of The Year Sex Criminals (with Matt Fraction), and the co-creator and writer of the series Kaptara (with Kagan McLeod), both from Image Comics. His other work includes writing Jughead for Archie Comics, Howard The Duck and Star-Lord for Marvel Comics, and that comic book where Justin Trudeau met Alpha Flight and Iron Man, which got him on the news (again).

BONUS FUN FACT: Did you know The Beguiling’s Alex Hoffman modeled for characters in both Sex Criminals and in The Saviors? 

MAKING HISTORY: The Cartoon Worlds of Seth
Saturday March 4, 2017 @ 2:00 PM
University of Toronto, Jackman Humanities Building, Room JH 100
170 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario
Free to attend – Tickets Required! Get your tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seth-making-history-in-conversation-with-michael-deforge-tickets-31892076058

Sponsored by The Graduate English Association (GEA) in the Department of English at the University of Toronto is working in collaboration with the Beguiling Books & Art and the Portcupine’s Quill.

SETH · cartoonist · illustrator · book-maker · designer · model-builder · installation artist

For decades Seth has been making and re-making histories – often uniquely Canadian histories – while cultivating a distinctive graphic style that calls to mind a golden age of cartooning. In comics and illustrations, in published sketchbooks, in gallery installations, on New Yorker covers, Seth gives substance to an imagined past that hovers at the edge of memory.

The historical inventions and interventions of his work draw attention to the representation of the past, and in doing so reveal the amount of the artifice involved in the construction of history. By allowing his readers to explore a vividly rendered, materially rich collection of overlapping cartoon worlds, Seth makes tangible a complicated longing for the past.

Join Seth and fellow cartoonist Michael DeForge for a discussion about comics, world-building, and capturing the past.

Also featuring: short talks by Tom Smart, curator and author of Palookaville: Seth and the Art of Graphic Autobiography, and Andrew Lesk, editor for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and past president of the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics. Hosted by Daniel Marrone, author Forging the Past: Seth and the Art of Memory.

THE ABOMINABLE MR. SEABROOK LAUNCH
Featuring Joe Ollmann
Thursday, January 26th, 2016, 7pm
@ The Beguiling, 319 College Street (NEW LOCATION!)
Free to attend. 

Join cartoonist Joe Ollmann as he discusses his latest graphic tour de force: The Abominable Mr. Seabrook. In Seabrook, Ollmann chronicles the trials and tribulations of notorious journalist William Buehler Seabrook: famed member of the Lost Generation known for participating in voodoo ceremonies, riding camels cross the Sahara desert, communing with cannibals, and popularizing the term “zombie” in the West. Exposing both the highs and extreme lows of a turbulent life, Ollmann often weaves in Seabrook’s own words and those of his biographers. This biographical account, however, posits Seabrook the believer versus Seabrook the exploiter, leaving the reader to consider where one ends and the other begins.

This event will take place in, or very near to, The Beguiling’s new space at 319 College Street. See you there!

ABOUT JOE OLLMANN:

Joe Ollmann lives in Hamilton, Ontario. He won the Doug Wright Award for Best Book in 2007.

ABOUT THE ABOMINABLE MR. SEABROOK

In the early twentieth century, travel writing represented the desire for the expanding bourgeoisie to experience the exotic cultures of the world past their immediate surroundings. Journalist William Buehler Seabrook was emblematic of this trend – participating in voodoo ceremonies, riding camels cross the Sahara desert, communing with cannibals and most notably, popularizing the term “zombie” in the West. A string of his bestselling books show an engaged, sympathetic gentleman hoping to share these strange, hidden delights with the rest of the world. He was willing to go deeper than any outsider had before. But, of course, there was a dark side. Seabrook was a barely functioning alcoholic who was deeply obsessed with bondage and the so-called mystical properties of pain and degradation. His life was a series of traveling highs and drunken lows; climbing on and falling off the wagon again and again. What led the popular and vivid writer to such a sad state?

Cartoonist Joe Ollmann spent seven years researching Seabrook’s life, accessing long neglected archives in order to piece together the peripatetic life of a forgotten American writer. Often weaving in Seabrook’s own words and those of his biographers, Ollmann posits Seabrook the believer versus Seabrook the exploiter, and leaves the reader to consider where one ends and the other begins.

WE FOUND A HAT! Picture Book Event!
With Jon Klassen, Matt Forsythe, John Martz, and special moderator Kyo Maclear
Wednesday, December 14th, 2016, 6pm-8pm
@ Toronto Reference Library, 3rd floor Hinton Theatre
Free to attend!

Presented by Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop and Candlewick Press / Penguin Random House Canada, with thanks to Toronto Public Library

Do you like amazing picture books or know someone who does? Or have you ever wanted to MAKE kids picture books but never knew how or where to start? Well then, have we got an event for you!

On Wednesday, December 14th join the staff of Page & Panel as they celebrate the release of We Found A Hat, with author Jon Klassen! To truly celebrate this release, we’ve invited some of Jon’s friends and fellow picturebook creators to join him, and Matt Forsythe (My Name is Elizabeth), John Martz (Burt’s Way Home), and Kyo Maclear (The Wish Tree) will join Jon at the event!

At 6pm, Jon, John, and Matt will take turns presenting from their newest books in a reading/presentation for all ages of attendees. Kids and families welcome.

At 7pm, we’ll take a short break to reset our stage, and then at approximately 7:10pm all four authors will take the stage to discuss how they create their works, and answer audience questions about picture books in a discussion moderated by Kyo Maclear.

Then at 8pm, all four authors will sign copies of their work! The signing may be moved downstairs to page & Panel: The TCAF Shop, just in case we run a little long.

Our thanks to all of the authors for participating, and Penguin Random House and Toronto Public Library, for their help in putting together this event.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Matt Forsythe

Born in Toronto, Matthew Forsythe grew up in London. After publishing his first books, he moved to LA, where he worked on Adventure Time. He now lives in Montreal, working on animations, picture books, and comics. His works include the comics Comics Class, Ojingogo, and Jinchalo, and illustrations for the picture books Warning: Do Not Open This Book, Please! Open This Book, My Name Is Elizabeth, and the forthcoming Spring 2017 title The Gold Leaf.

Jon Klassen

Jon Klassen is the creator of the #1 New York Times bestseller I Want My Hat Back, which was named a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book, a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year, and a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year. He returned with another hat and another thief in This Is Not My Hat, which won the Caldecott Medal became a New York Times bestseller. His most recent work is the conclusion of the hat trilogy, I Found My Hat.

He is also the illustrator of House Held Up By Trees, a picture book written by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Ted Kooser, as well as Cats’ Night Out by Caroline Stutson, which won the Governor General’s Award; Extra Yarn and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett; and the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series by Maryrose Wood.

Jon Klassen has worked as an illustrator for feature animated films, music videos, and editorial pieces. His animation projects include design work for DreamWorks Feature Animation as well as LAIKA Studios on their feature film Coraline. Other work includes designs for a BBC spot used in the coverage of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, which won a 2010 BAFTA award. Originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jon Klassen now lives in Los Angeles.

John Martz

John Martz is an illustrator, cartoonist, and designer living in Toronto, Ontario. He is the author of Burt’s Way Home (Koyama Press, 2016), A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories (Koyama Press, 2014), Destination X (Nobrow, 2013), and the online comic strip Machine Gum. I am the illustrator of Dear Flyary by Dianne Young (Kids Can Press, 2011), Who’s on First? by Abbott & Costello (Quirk Books, 2013), and Black and Bittern Was Night by Robert Heidbreder (Kids Can Press, 2013).

Kyo Maclear

Kyo Maclearis a novelist, essayist and children’s author. She was born in London, England and moved to Toronto at the age of four. Kyo holds an Honors B.A. in Fine Art and Art History and an M.A. in Cultural Studies from the University of Toronto, and is currently a doctoral student at York University, where she holds a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. She is the author of two acclaimed novels for adults, The Letter Opener and Stray Love, and numerous beloved books for children, including Julia, Child and The Good Little Book. Kyo lives in Toronto where she shares a home with two sons, two cats, a musician and a truckload of books.

MOTOR CRUSH #1 – RELEASE DAY SIGNING
Featuring Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher
Wednesday, December 7th, 2016, 6pm-8pm
@ The Beguiling, 601 Markham Street
FREE

The Beguiling is thrilled to welcome a special in-store signing featuring Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart, 2/3rds of the team for the brand new Image Comics series MOTOR CRUSH! You may remember Brenden, Cameron, and artist Babs Tarr from their work on the acclaimed BATGIRL OF BURNSIDE relaunch for DC 52? Well they’re doing their own thing now and it’s going to be an amazing book, and we’re lucky enough to have Cameron and Brenden in-store on release day to sign the first issue!

MOTOR CRUSH: By day, Domino Swift competes for fame and fortune in a worldwide motorcycle racing league. By night, she cracks heads of rival gangs in brutal bike wars to gain possession of a rare, valuable contraband: an engine-boosting “machine narcotic” known as Crush.

The Beguiling will have a BUNCH of copies on hand of Motor Crush #1 for the signing, and Brenden and Cameron might just be bringing a special few items as well! Of course we’ll also have a selection of previous work by the team available for purchase too, like Batgirl, Gotham Academy, Fight Club 2, and more! Cameron and Brenden will be signing on the second floor of the shop.

We hope to see you all next Wednesday!

It’s The Dinosaur Comics & The Beguiling Holiday Party 2016!

It’s the Dinosaur Comics, Beguiling, Starlord, Pitiful Human-Lizard, Power Man & Iron Fist, WIcked & Divine Holiday Extravaganza 2016!
Featuring Ryan North, Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Scott Hepburn, and special guest Jamie McKelvie!
Wednesday, December 21st, 2016, 7pm-11pm
@ Pauper’s Pub, 539 Bloor Street West, Toronto
FREE TO ATTEND

The Beguiling is proud to once again welcome one and all to our annual Dinosaur Comics Holiday Party! Things might be tough right now, but that makes getting together with friends, comics, and some secret Santa-ing even more important. This year Ryan North, creator of Dinosaur Comics and writer of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl will be joined by a bunch of pals with brand new books, out today!

• Chip Zdarsky will be there, and today is the day of release for his new comic book Star-Lord #1 from Marvel Comics!
• Jason Loo will be there, and he’ll have a brand new issue of Toronto’s own superhero The Pitiful Human-Lizard!
• Scott Hepburn will be there, and he’s the artist of the Power Man & Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual #1, brand new today!
• AND ALL THE WAY FROM ENGLAND, Mr. Jamie McKelvie will be in attendance, and he’s the co-creator of The Wicked and The Divine.

If you’ve never been before, Ryan, Chip, and pals will be getting together and signing/mingling with folks, we’ll ask them some fun questions in front of an audience, and there’ll be books there for you to buy and get signed too (courtesy of The Beguiling). Plus, returning for another year is the popular SECRET SANTA trade at the event! Read on for details!

HEY EVERYONE! WHY NOT JOIN IN FOR OUR SECRET SANTA?

We’re holding a SECRET SANTA at this event! Everyone is welcome to participate, but no one has to if they don’t want to because choice is important!

If you would like to participate:

• Please bring a wrapped gift with a monetary value of about $5-$10. Don’t go nuts, but find something cool.
• Go to the book sales table and trade your gift for a numbered ticket.
• At 8:30pm, we’ll call out the numbers, and when your number is called you’ll have your choice of the available gifts!
• Please mark on the outside of the gift if your item contains food and especially if it contains common allergens including peanuts, gluten, etc., so that people with allergies will be able to make an informed Secret Santa Selection.

Thanks to Ryan, Chip, and Pauper’s for helping us throw this again this year!