Theresa Behle (former Carlsen editor and co-author of Geek Girls forever!: Das bunte Eintragebuch-Journal für Fangirls, Nerds und Geeks! "Carlsen, with Olivia Vieweg"),
Dido Drachman (comic book author, latest publication "Zwanendrifters") ,
Sterre Richards (comic book author, latest publication "De vloek van rood"),
Olivia Vieweg, (comic book author, various comic awards, many publications "Huck Finn and Schwere See, mein Herz, beide Suhrkamp…")
Japanese manga has been extremely popular in the West since the early 1990s. Their success has influenced a new generation of comic book authors in Europe. Many of these female authors grew up with Japanese comics and films. They learned how to draw and create stories from manga, diverging from the more typical and established themes and styles applied to comic books at the time. The Japanese influence can cause misunderstandings and friction with older generations of comic book authors and publishers. The often feminine-coded stylistic elements of manga and their centering on the experience of girls as main characters in their narrative, illuminating their psyche in intricate ways, set the storytelling of manga apart from popular comics on the European market. This new generation often finds it hard to find their way through conventional publishing. Instead, it might hide the origins of their inspiration, which for the comic establishment is too much “glitter.”
For the symposium In Defense of Glitter three comic book authors from Germany and the Netherlands and one former editor of Carlsen, the leading German publisher of Comics, will discuss the role of manga in their careers. We will ask about opportunities, obstacles, generational trends, and troubles.