This snow sculpture of Radcliffe perfectly merges SPACE DUMPLINS with BLANKETS and CARNET DE VOYAGE. The sculpting is courtesy my friends and translators, who hosted me at that chalet in Argientières in the French Alps in 2004. (Thank you, Laetitia, Frédéric, Anne-Julia, Walter, and kids!)
In less than a week, I leave for a 6 week book tour in Europe. Details coming soon!
More SPACE DUMPLINS tour dates soon. In the meantime, here’s a few mementos thus far:
Upper left, CHUNKY RICE tattoo and young cartoonists/art school students from Philly. Right, fan art by talented Italian illustrator Veronica Carratello. And finally, excerpts from a huge stack of thank you notes from students at Hoffman Elementary outside Chicago.
The first translated volume of DUMPLINS, Rizzoli’s POLPETTE SPAZIALI, debuted this past weekend at LUCCA Comics Festival in Italy. It’s 100 pages longer than the US edition, because of extra “making of” material.
Also, hot-off-the-press is Reprodukt’s gorgeous German edition of WELTRAUMKRÜMEL, in paperback and limited edition hardcover, meticulously hand-lettered, including the sound effects. And soon to be released is Casterman’s French edition of SPACE BOULETTES which will also debut in paperback and special edition hardcover. The latter has an acetate overlay cover, an in-depth interview, and extra pages of “making of” material.
In March & April of 2016, I’ll be in Europe to promote all of these along with Faber & Faber’s UK edition, and Astiberri’s Spanish edition of ALMÓNDIGAS DEL ESPACIO.
Up next is the Canadian portion (and Philadelphia) of DUMPLINS (and D&Q Blankets) book tour!
Sunday, October 25th, 3 PM : Librarie D&Q, 211 Bernard Ouest, MONTREAL
Monday, October 26th, 7 PM : Librarie D&Q, 211 Bernard Ouest, MONTREAL
Wednesday, October 28th, 6 PM : Palmerston Public Library, TORONTO
Thursday, October 29th, 3 PM : University of Toronto, TORONTO
Friday & Saturday, October 30th & 31st, Locust Moon Comics Festival, PHILADELPHIA
Halloween… might be a good time for SPACE DUMPLINS cosplay, hint hint…
The next leg of DUMPLINS’ book tour takes me to the Great Lakes region of the midwest.
NOTE: As of September 16th, new updates to the SPACE DUMPLINS BOOK TOUR!
September 6 • DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL
September 11 • Portland, Oregon • A CHILDREN’S PLACE Bookstore • 5 PM
September 12 • Portland, Oregon • BRIDGE CITY COMICS • 11 AM
September 12 • Portland, Oregon • POWELL’S BOOKS, Burnside • 2 PM
September 16 • Seattle, Washington • COMICS DUNGEON • 4 PM
September 16 • Seattle, Washington • UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE • 7 PM
September 17-19 • Walla Walla, WA • WHITMAN COLLEGE
September 20 • San Francisco, CA • COMIX EXPERIENCE • 2 PM
September 25 • Los Angeles, CA • SECRET HEADQUARTERS • 6 – 9 PM
OCTOBER
October 1-3 • Columbus, OH • CARTOON CROSSROADS
October 4 • Naperville, IL • ANDERSON’S BOOKSHOP • 2 PM
October 6 • Winnetka, IL • The BOOK STALL
October 7 • Oconomowoc, WI • BOOKS & COMPANY Bookstore
October 9 • Denver, Colorado • MOUNTAINS & PLAINS Independent Booksellers Association Tradeshow • 3 PM
October 13 • Montrose, CA • ONCE UPON A TIME Bookstore • 7 PM
October 17 • Minneapolis, Minnesota • TWIN CITIES BOOK FESTIVAL
CANADA IN LATE OCTOBER! More info to come for late October and part of November.
Endless thanks for your patience while I road tripped across the US with Edmond Baudoin. It was completely crazy of me to be working on the NEXT book when my latest debut needed promotional attention. But I’m home now & refueling to hit the road again. Looking forward to seeing you!
Presently punting in Cambridge, UK with Sierra, the first leg of post-DUMPLINS vacation. But the big news in my world is that we’re MOVING to LA, packing up almost two decades of living in Portland, Oregon. The process is GOOD-BYE, CHUNKY RICE all over again. That book was drawn when I was 21 and first moved to Portland from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; emotionally devastated from missing my friends. Now I’m nearly forty, but feeling the same. Big love to my Portland posse, and to my extended community of friends & readers around the world.
(Also see, bamboo rafting in China.)
Just returned from one month in France where I began a collaborative book with 72 year old French comics master Edmond BAUDOIN.
(A – Edmond with Cambodian cartoonist Tian, left. Amiens Cathedral, right.)
(B – Signing at the Palais du Commerce, left. Little Prince statue in Place Bellecour, right.)
After book signings at the A) Amiens BD festival and B) Lyon BD festival, Edmond & I retreated to his childhood haunts of Villars-sur-Var –
a mountaintop village near Nice to churn out drawings and write thumbails for our book.
Our timing aligned with village festival of their patron St. Jean – documented in Baudoin’s book LE CHEMIN DE SAINT JEAN.
Edmond has over 60 books in his bibliography, though zero are translated in English at this point.
Our collaborative project has just begun… the next step is Edmond visiting my stomping grounds in Portland & Wisconsin… BUT for the rest of the year, I plunge back into SPACE DUMPLINS to hit that deadline for a FALL 2015 release – the tenth anniversary of Scholastic’s GRAPHIX line.
“Little Nothings” — that’s the title for a book Maurice Sendak was working on when he died- based on Mozart’s first ballet.
Today is the anniversary of Maurice’s birth 86 years ago.
In a later conversation, Maurice said, “I’ve been feeling fetid in my efforts at writing. Feel as if the creative spirit has departed. It better not leave me or I’ll have a SHIT FIT!” That’s how I was feeling when I left for France – I’m in Paris today – taking a breather from SPACE DUMPLINS to work in a sketchbook outside the studio again.