Preconference: From Writer to Reader

The Preconference was titled "Picturing the Story: Teen Readers Get Graphic @ Your Library." It was all about new ways of thinking about reading.

The first speakers of the day were manga creator, Svetlana Chmakova, publisher Kurt Hassler of Yen Press, Angela Frederick, teen librarian for the Nashville Public Library, and two teen guests. Svetlana and her publisher talked about the manga/graphic novel industry and how it is changing. Yen Press is putting out a new manga serial called Yen Plus that looks interesting and you should keep an eye out for.

Manga's inclusion into American culture has been relatively recent, Kurt Hassler explained. And when it first travelled to America, no one hated it more than American graphic novel readers. But eventually manga won over it's own readers. It began in the bookstores, not a traditional comic geek destination. The major chains began with manga collections and expanded into American graphic novels. The advantage of this was in the new market, graphic novel readers were already going to comic shops but new readers may not know they like the genre. Their presence in bookstores made them available to new readers, especially girls!

Now graphic novels and manga are everywhere, including in the library. Angela Frederick recommends listening to the teens, because there is no possible way to read every series they are a good touchstone for collection development.

note: look out for a graphic novel version of the popular Cirque du Freak books from Yen Press in the near future.