Since 2009 Laydeez do comics has been growing in popularity and is now firmly at the heart of a flourishing community of talented and interesting people. An increasing number of branches have been started around the UK and around the globe with more in the planning stages. On this page we introduce you to the organisers past and present…our “sisters” around the globe.
Nasrin Begum – London Baker (2015- )
is writer with a background in anthropology, social work and family therapy. After 8 years in Social Work, she began to write the stories inspired by her working practice and studies in narrative theory, psychology and systemic therapy. For years Nasrin has been writing people’s stories in a report format. As a person who encounters people’s stories and works with them to change their stories, she would like to be able to voice their experiences, in fictional but still very real ways. She has collaborated with artist Angela Wraight to create illustrate complex narratives about ideas and people’s lives in a different, accessible and creative format.
www.angelawraight.co.uk
angela.tumblr.com
nazbee.tumblr.com
Paula Knight: Britstol co-ordinator (2014-2016)
is an illustrator, writer and proofreader. She is currently
working on a graphic memoir for Myriad Editions, shortlisted in
their First Fictions First Graphic Novel competition in
2012. It will be published in 2015.
Her illustration work has included greetings cards, editorial and children’s books, with
over 300 cards and 60 books illustrated. In recent years she has also become
interested in writing, and her first two children’s picture books as author
were published in October 2012. Paula is represented by Bright
Literary Agency.
http://paulaknight.wordpress.com/
contact:paulajknight@gmail.com
@Paula_JKnight
Dr Sarah Lightman: Founder, London co-ordinator and committee
member(2009-2019)
is an award-winning artist and has exhibited widely in the UK and
abroad. Her graphic novel, The Book of Sarah, will be published by
Myriad Editions in May 2019. She co-curated the critically acclaimed touring
exhibition of 18 internationally-renowned artists, Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women.
Sarah edited the accompanying volume, Graphic Details: Jewish Women’s Confessional
Comics in Essays and Interviews that was awarded
the 2015 Eisner Award for Best Scholarly /Academic Work and The Susan
Koppelman Prize for Best Feminist Anthology, and Jordan Schnitzer Award.
Sarah’s PhD at the University of Glasgow is Dressing Eve and Other Reparative Acts and
she is Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. www.sarahlightman.com
website https://sarahlightman.com/
twitter https://twitter.com/sarahlightman1
instagram https://www.instagram.com/thebookofsarahlightman/
Keara Stewart: London co-ordinator (2015)
is a Camberwell College of Arts, UAL graduate. She makes zines about everyday life, with an interest in people, communities and housing. Keara recently edited her first anthology, A BIT OF UNDIGESTED POTATO, on the theme of bad dreams and nightmares. It has contributions from forty creators, many of whom she met through Laydeez Do Comics. Other recent projects include drawing the cover for the first UK Zine Librarians Zine and making a piece of work for The Bread & Roses Award Alternative Press Takeover Exhibition.
contact: kearabazstewart@gmail.com / kearabazstewart.tumblr.com / twitter: @keara_stewart
GLASGOW
Anna Brewer:
Glasgow co-ordinator (2014-15)
www.annabrewer.com
Heather Middleton: Glasgow co-ordinator (2014-15)
http://heathermiddletonillustration.wordpress.com
Lise Tannahill: Glasgow co-ordinator (2014-15)
Contact: laydeezglasgow@gmail.com
INTERNATIONAL associates past and present
DUBLIN
Maura McHugh:
Dublin co-ordinator (2015)
is a writer living in the West of Ireland, whose short fiction has
appeared in venues such as theFantasy anthology, Shroud
Magazine, Black Static, Arkham Tales, Paradox Magazine, M-Brane SF, and The
Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror.
She is also the writer on the comic book series Róisín Dubh and Jennifer Wilde, which are both published by Atomic Diner. Her script ‘The Nail’, drawn by Star St. Germain, is in the Womanthology comic book anthology by IDW Publishing. Her first collection Twisted Fairy tales, illustrated by Jane Laurie, was published in the USA by Barron’s Education Series in Spring 2013, followed by Twisted Myths in autumn 2013, which was created and published by the same team.
Lynda Rucker: Dublin co-ordinator (2015)
is an American writer currently living in Dublin,
Ireland. Her fiction has appeared in such places as F&SF, Black
Static, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, and The Year’s Best
Dark Fantasy and Horror, and she has stories forthcoming in Nightmare
Magazine, Postscripts, and the British Fantasy Society
anthology The Burning Circus.
She is a regular columnist for the magazine Black Static, and her first collection, The Moon Will Look Strange, is due out from Kar?shi Books later this year.
In
the Pines
contact: lyndarucker@gmail.com
@lyndaerucker
CHICAGO
MK Czerwiec:
Chicago co-ordinator (2013-15)
Nurse turned comics artist and educator MK Czerwiec (pronounced
sir-wick) aka Comic Nurse is currently artist in
residence at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. MK is also working
on her first graphic novel, Taking Turns: A Careography combining
oral histories of the AIDS crisis, graphic memoir, and watercolored drawings.
She is on the organising committee of
graphic medicine
www.comicnurse.com
contact: comicnurse@mac.com
@ComicNurse
Riva Lehrer: Chicago co-ordinator (2013-15)
is an artist, curator, filmmaker and educator.
www.rivalehrerart.com
contact:rivalehrer@sbcglobal.net
SAN FRANCISCO (2013-16)
Maureen Burdock: San Francisco co-ordinator
has been creating a series of graphic novels that deal with
gender-based violence around the world since 2008. Most recently, she has been
working on an animated short film. She continues to incorporate both elements
of magic and political awareness into her work.
Maureen has won several awards for her graphic novel work, including
high commendation by the global Freedom to Create International Competition and
top prize in the Judy Chicago/Through the Flower, Feminist Artists Under Forty
Competition. McFarland will publish an anthology of the F Word Project in
2014. Burdock continues to exhibit her work in gallery and museum venues, and
the art for her current book, Mosi & the Long Run, will be
exhibited at Space Station 65 Gallery in London in 2014. Maureen Burdock’s
work is included in the Brooklyn Museum Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art
Base.
www.maureenburdock.com
contact: art@maureenburdock.com
@BurdockArt
Vik JF Haifa, Israel Co-ordinator (2016)
Vik JF is a Haifa based artist, working in diverse media and techniques. In her works, she creates and follows an imaginary community, whose members are constantly suspended between life and death, intense activity and total passivity.