Participants announced for graphic novelist and comic artist exchange

Six graphic novelists will participate in the first residential exchange between Taiwan and New Zealand courtesy of a joint initiative between the Publishers Association of New Zealand, the Taipei Book Fair Foundation and the New Zealand Book Council.

The exchange will enable three New Zealand artists to collaborate on the creation of a graphic novel with three graphic novelists from Taiwan. The first stage of this exciting opportunity will be held in Auckland in October 2014, and the second phase will take place in Taiwan in February 2015.

The completed work will be jointly published by the Publishers Association of New Zealand and the Taipei Book Fair Foundation and launched in February 2015 at the Taipei International Book Exhibition, at which New Zealand is to be Guest of Honour.

Catriona Ferguson, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Book Council said “We are delighted that for the first time ever, three wonderful Kiwi graphic novelists are going to have the chance to develop something new and exciting with their counterparts from Taiwan. This is a great opportunity to showcase our local talent both to Taiwan and the world.”

About the exchange participants:

·         Tim Gibson has a background in illustrating worlds, characters and monsters for films including Tintin, District 9 and Avatar. His website www.mothcity.com offers a fresh take on the traditional murder mystery and is distributed through digital comics distributor ComiXology. Tim’s work has been widely anthologised and Moth City is considered a ground-breaking approach to storytelling.

·         Rachel Fenton is a novelist, poet and graphic novelist. Her work has been published both online and in print and includes cross-genre collaborations with other creative professionals. In 2012 she was awarded the AUT Creative Writing Award and has held an artist in residence position at Counterexample Poetics.

·         Ant Sang is an award-winning graphic novelist who has also produced numerous short comics for local anthologies and educational purposes. Shaolin Burning was awarded an Honour Award at the 2012 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and was selected for the Storylines Notable Books list that same year. His 2004 comic series The Dharma Punks will be reprinted in graphic novel form for the first time in 2014.

·         Chuang Yung-shin is one of the most well-known commercial film directors in Taiwan. In 1997 he published Film Maker’s Notes, a comic which recorded his life and works and has been reprinted 18 times. Since then he has gone on to publish further award winning works, including The Window and ‘80s Diary in Taiwan1.

·         61Chi graduated from the Art Department of Taiwan Normal University. Her first book of comics, Room, was published in January 2014. 61Chi belongs to the new generation of Taiwanese comics artists with versatile drawing talents and a broad range of skills across genres, including children’s illustration, American style realistic drawing and Japanese aesthetic style.

·         Ahn Zhe was born in Taipei in 1985. While his work encompasses graphic design, illustration and storyboard design, his true passion lies in art as well as image and word creation. His works include The Dream Under the Bed, published by TITAN Publishing Co. Ltd. in 2011, and he has also contributed to collections such as 80s Taipei x 90s Hong Kong. 

The aim of the exchange is to:

                                                                                       

·         foster collaboration between artists

·         enable the creation and publication of a cross-cultural graphic novel

·         create an opportunity for graphic novels to be discussed and explored within an international context.