Belles Étrangères, the documentary

Back in November 2009 I was invited to France to tour with 11 other American authors for a few weeks as guests of an annual festival called Belles Étrangères. (I blogged about it here and here.) Part of the program was a documentary they filmed about all of us in the US during the summer of 2009. You can now watch that video streaming for free.

This is an hour-long documentary featuring interiews with each of the 12 authors talking about the writer's life, creativity, and influences. There's some wisdom and quite a bit of humor. Watch the video here. There is no time code but I'm the fourth interview in, just after Hannah Tinti. 

The other authors (not necessarily in order of appearance) are:
Colson Whitehead
John Haskell
Hannah Tinti
Andrew Sean Greer
Percival Everett
Forrest Gander
Charles D'Ambrosio
Jack O'Connell
Eleni Sikelanios
Yuri Slezkine
Richard White

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An article about Oubapo on WSJ.com

Etienne Lécroart interviewed about Oubapo

The Wall Street Journal online edition did an article about Oubapo here.

It's a little dishy, I guess they felt like they needed the hook of the internal strife between Jean-Christophe Menu and other Oubapo members (also other L'Assocations memebers, employees, and most of the French-speaking comics world!) to justify running a piece about the group but other than that it's pretty decent and accurate as far as I can tell. The highlight is this short video profile of Etienne Lécroart (also embedded in the article and you might want to watch it there in the pop-up screen since I'm once again having cropping issues here):


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Enroll in a class with me this spring.

I'll be teaching three very different classes this spring, two at the School of Visual Arts and one at MoCCA, all three open to the general public.

Comics Storytelling, starting January 25 on Tuesday nights, is a 12-week class where we explore the language and tradition of comics narrative. I assign a few short assignments, then you work on a longer comic of your own. 
Register here.

Independent Projects Seminar: Comics, co-taught with Tom Hart, is a great opportunity to get occasional feedback on a project you are working at on your own: graphic novel, short story, webcomic, whatever. We meet three times throughout the semester for full-day Saturday critique sessions which always generate thoughtful feedback and enlightening discussions from the whole group. We've had multiple repeat students in this class as it is well suited to artists who are basicaly working on their own but want to come in from the cold occasionally. 
Register here.

There will be an open house/info session next Tuesday, January 11, where you can learn more about these and other classes. I'll be there as will a bunch of other teachers. Details below.

Looking ahead a bit, I'm also excited to be offering a special 4-week Oubapo/constrained comics workshop as part of MoCCA's Education Program on Monday nights starting February 28. I'll have more details here and at the MoCCA website soon.


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Here's the information about the SVA Cartooning and Illustration Open House:

ILLUSTRATION AND CARTOONING
INFORMATION SESSION
One night: Tues., Jan. 11
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, FREE OF CHARGE
What is illustration? What is cartooning? What do you need to begin working as an illustrator or cartoonist? Spend an evening with some of our continuing education illustration and cartooning faculty and see their work and their students' work.
NOTE: This information session will be held at 209 East 23rd Street, room 311, 3rd floor. Seating is given on a first-come, first-served basis. Session begins promptly at 6:30 PM.
MODERATOR: KEITH MAYERSON, cartoonist, illustrator, fine artist.

NEED ADVICE ON COURSES? Please call 212.592.2251
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