Nerd Nite #1 Presentations include:
Louis Wigen-Toccalino: “Dancing Goats to Double Gibraltars: the discovery and spread of the coffee bean”
Louis learned how to cook from his grandmother, drinks 205 quarts of coffee a year, and views tea with disdain. He is a pedant, an optimist, a risotto master; he can often be found waxing philosophic at a local watering hole.
He opened Decade in LFK to share the gospel of caffeine, with anyone who will listen.
Joe Sutliff Sanders: "The Arch-Nemesis of Comic Books Is...Comic Books?"
Comics in their current form were invented in the United States, but for a long time, the only great literary comics were published in Europe and Japan. What happened? We had a head start...why didn't we make great comics first? This presentation glances briefly at great comics from the US and around the world and then explains how and why in the 1950s, the American comics industry decided to restrict itself to morally and aesthetically puerile stories while the rest of the world started producing lasting masterpieces. We’ll look at the continuing impact of this decision, both on the comics we read today and Americans’ perception of comics, which is so different from the perception held by people around the world.
Joe Sutliff Sanders is an associate professor in the English Department at Kansas State University. He is the author of a book about classic girls’ fiction and the editor of a book about the Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He has been publishing and teaching about comics since 2002, and during that time he has lectured about comics in Belgium, Glasgow, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, New York, Spain, and even Kansas.
Dave Burns: “Thanks, But No Thanks: A Rejection Letter to the Traditional Publishing World”
A brief presentation and discussion about the recent shift toward independent/self-publishing, its previously (and still currently at times) unrecognized legitimacy, and the publishing options that actually exist for those not interesting in going the traditional route.
Dave is the author of 7 self-published/independently published books including 4 paperbacks, 7 ebooks, 4 audiobooks professionally produced and narrated by Alan Caudle. He is the founder of The Ottawa Writers’ Guild, which has 20+ members in first year and founding editor of 'Uncarved: The Literature and Arts Magazine,' a magazine featuring local authors, artists, musicians, etc. When he isn't writing, he is a Creative Writing instructor at the Ottawa Community Arts Council, Ottawa Herald, and Lumberyard Arts Center. And by the way, he tutored Duke of Edinburgh Award student in Ottawa, Ontario, CA via Skype for 26 weeks...just saying. You can find out more about Dave at uncarvedbooks.com | amazon.com/author/daveburns | linkedin.com/pub/dave-burns/55/167/86a.
