CALL FOR GRAPHIC NOVELS BY METRO DETROIT ARTISTS
Submission deadline extended to September 15
DETROIT, MI, August 21 2019 – Detroit-based small press and artist collective, Maamoul Press, is seeking proposals for 30-50 page graphic novellas from comic artists who have never been published professionally before. While there is no specific theme or genre for the call, Maamoul Press is seeking stories that align with their mission, which is to support authentic storytelling by, for, and about communities that are frequently marginalized within the comics industry.
The selected artist will receive a micro grant to support the completion of the work, and will be awarded a three-week artist residency as part of the Arab American National Museum’s Artists+Residents program in November to work on the book. During the residency, the artist will be given free private housing and studio space at the Dearborn City Hall Artspace Lofts on Michigan Avenue, and will have the opportunity to learn from and network with local comic artists.
The resulting work will be the first full-length graphic novel published by Maamoul Press. This initiative is also one of 62 finalists for this year’s edition of the Detroit Knight Arts Challenge.
Says Maamoul Press co-founder and local graphic novelist Leila Abdelrazaq, “Comics readers are really hungry for more diverse stories, we want to see ourselves represented, not just through a few token characters, but also in terms of authorship. Sadly, the industry still has a long way to go in order to start meeting that demand. We are here to forge some much needed space to tell our own stories, stories that aren’t usually centered in mainstream comics publishing.”
The deadline for submissions has been extended to September 15, to allow artists more time to get their submissions ready. Submissions are in the form of a short synopsis and page/script samples. For more information, interested artists can visit https://maamoulpress.com/Open-Call-Graphic-Novel-Proposals
Maamoul Press is a multi-disciplinary collective for the creation, curation, and dissemination of art at the intersection of comics, printmaking, and book arts. We seek to uplift work from a diverse range of marginalized backgrounds, fostering the arts in those communities through publishing, workshops, exhibitions, and distribution.
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