Bryan Talbot: news and events

Be there at the launch!

Raymond Briggs and Bryan will be interviewed by Rachel Cooke to celebrate the new UK editions of Gentleman Jim and The Tale of One Bad Rat at the ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH on Saturday 2nd August, 3.30 to 4.30pm in the Nash Room. Limited number of tickets, available in advance from 020 7930 3647. £10 / £9 concs. / £8 ICA members

Bryan will be co-teaching a six day course on creative writing for graphic novels with cartoonist Peter Blegvad at the prestigious Arvon Foundation from Monday 24th November to Saturday 29th November. For details see the course page on the Arvon Foundation site

Monqee charity auction

Check out the Monqee! As part of the 'Match it for Pratchett' appeal, the Forbidden Planet SF and comic store chain are undertaking a unique project to raise money for and awareness of the Alzheimer's Research Trust: "Take one 12" White Vinyl MonQee. Add a host of talent from across the science fiction and fantasy genres. The result? A completely unique, one-off, signed and beautifully decorated piece of Urban Vinyl - a first in Art Toy history.

And this toy could be yours. Yes, they are auctioning it off. Not only is it signed by Neal Asher, Chris 'Fangorn' Baker, Tony Ballantyne, Chaz Brenchley, Holly Black, Ed Buckley, Paul Cornell, David Devereux, Brianna Flynt, Neil Gaiman, Amanda Hemingway, Tanith Lee, Tom Lloyd, Kari Maund, China Miéville, Andy Remic, Justina Robson, Mark Robson, Geoff Ryman, Sarah Singleton , Charles Stross, James Swallow, Freda Warrington, Liz Williams and Frank Wu: Bryan has done a sketch of The Mad Hatter on the back.

See the Forbidden Planet Match it for Pratchett Monqee site for more info.

Alice in Sunderland presentation - in Sunderland!

Bryan will be giving a presentation on Alice in Sunderland and book signing at the Sunderland City Library & Arts Centre on Saturday 13 September at 1.30pm.
It is a free event for the Heritage Open Days series of events, but booking is necessary through the Tourist Information Centre. There will also be a display of the Artwork at the Arts Centre Washington from Monday 8th September to Saturday 13 September.

Upcoming personal appearances

Bryan will be speaking with Paul Gravett and Hannah Berry at The Ipswich
Literary Festival Tuesday 1st July and with Alan Grant at the Edinburgh
Literary Festival at 8.30 on Friday 22nd August. He will also be signing and
sketching at The San Diego Comicon 24 -27th July.

On 23rd August, 12.00 - 2.00pm, the day after his Edinburgh Festival panel,
Bryan will be signing at Deadhead Comics, 27 Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh, EH1
2QG Tel: 0131 266 2774

As mentioned before in this news column, last year Bryan took on the responsibility of being the sole agent for Veronique Tanaka and to find a publisher for her innovative graphic novel METRONOME, an experimental and erotically-charged "visual poem". Well the book is published this month by the New York company NBM. You can buy the book at www.nbmpub.com

There is also made available a 17 minute animated version of the book at http://metronome.shadowgallery.co.uk/

It's quite amazing - frame-by-frame at one second a frame, the book works equally well as an animation, though the experience is very different. In the animation, you can't see the subliminal shapes that the panels make on the page. NBM are offering a free 3 minute excerpt on their site as the animation is usually pay-to-view but we can offer you unlimited access for the limited time of one month. Just go to the site and put in this free access code: 04545

"The Art of Bryan Talbot" is mainly a collection of the best magazine and book illustrations Bryan has done over the years, plus some previously unpublished material, such as some examples of his home made comics drawn when he was about 12 and a selection of life drawings. It's 96 pages with a commentary by Bryan and is published by NBM in December. There's an introduction by Neil Gaiman.

See the front cover to the Art of Bryan Talbot and the Art of Bryan Talbot press release, or buy it direct from Amazon.

Bryan got interviewed on a podcast over at the rather excellent Inkstuds site; check it out!

Inside the Alice in Sunderland House!
Bryan is reluctantly having to leave Sunderland - for exactly the same reason he moved there. Ten years ago, his wife Mary accepted a post as lecturer at Sunderland University. Bryan can work anywhere he can set up a studio. On arriving in Sunderland he found that not only did he really like the place but that the city had many links to both Lewis Carroll and his supposed muse, Alice Liddell. Bryan had in mind for a long time the idea of a graphic novel based around Carroll and the result of his moving there was Alice in Sunderland and his house features in the graphic novel. Now Mary has accepted a much better position at Nottingham Trent University and they will be moving to the city within the next few months.
So - if you’ve ever wondered what Bryan’s house looks like, just go to:
http://www.andrew-craig.co.uk/ then click on buy a home, then type in 450000 both in price from and price to, choose Sunderland from the area list and click search.

Only one house comes up for that price at the moment - St Bede's Terrace, Ashbrooke - and that's it. There’s even 360 degree "virtual tours" of some of the rooms. Unfortunately the studio is not included – it’s just too damn untidy for the estate agents!

Because of the book Bryan has actually been made an official "Ambassador of Sunderland" by Sunderland City Council.

Official reproductions of Arkwright's vibro-beamers announced!

A fellow fan has secured permission from Bryan to create actual reproductions of Arkwrights vibro-beamer! - check out the vibro-beamer page for more info and see the gorgeous looking prototype vibro-beamer in its presentation box!