Getting your work out there and finding community

Girl reading a comic book by Richard Sala

Getting your work out there and finding community

January 17, 2023

Hi everyone, We’ve received many emails in the past couple of years from comics creators wondering how to get their work out and find community in comics. Especially in the wake of the ongoing pandemic which has pushed many artists to move to new cities and towns across the provinces, we’ve seen that a lot of people are feeling isolated and unsure of how to share their work. We’re compiling resources in this post in the hopes that it will…

Canada Comics Open Library- Cleo's October event

Call for President and Board Members

September 7, 2022

Rotem Diamant

Update

Hello out there, We are looking to fill a couple of board member positions. If you would like to join us and help CCOL continue to exist and grow, we would be so happy to hear from you! We currently have a position open for President and we are hoping a few more board members will join the comics library. To view all Director and Officer positions currently open and the application process, please visit this CCOL Get Involved page–…

Nova Graphica Cover edited by Laura Kenins and published by Conundrum Press

Canadian comics publishers list!

April 2, 2021

Rotem Diamant

Resource Guides, Subject Displays

I hope this will be helpful for those looking to be published as well as those interested in Canadian comics. I’m slowly adding publishers to the Canadian Cartoonists Database and created this as a reference. I’ve also included Canadian publishers who don’t solely focus on comics but still publish a significant amount of comics, as well as collectives who self-publish members’ work and produce anthologies. Please feel free to contact me with suggestions or point me to more databases out…

Tips for searching our online catalogue!

March 6, 2020

Rotem Diamant

Resource Guides

Tips for searching our online catalogue! Our online catalogue can be found here and by clicking the “Catalogue” tab on our website home page. Search bar When searching multiple keywords, separate them with a comma. The more keywords you add, the more you will narrow your search results. If you would like an exact match for your search query, enclose your phrase in quotation marks. For example, “beautiful darkness” will bring up an exact title match for 1 record, but…

Building a Community Comics Library (OLA Super Conference!)

January 31, 2020

Rotem Diamant

Events, Presentations, Resource Guides

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our session at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference this morning! Rebecca and myself (Rotem) spoke about the history of the comics library, the challenges of cataloguing comics and being a non-profit volunteer-run space, as well as provided a few comics resources which we hope will be helpful to other librarians! We are attaching a link to the slideshow here to share those resources. Please get in touch with us if…

Under The Sun: science fiction comics about albinism in Africa

September 10, 2019

Rotem Diamant

Comic Review

In May, Under The Sun creator Austine Osas reached out to tell us a bit about the series, a pertinent and political science fiction story with crucial social justice themes. It was made with the aim to raise awareness about persons with albinism in Africa. Although we are a bit late in featuring Under The Sun on our blog, we think the comic is a great initiative and wanted to share it! The series was released in December of last…

Reading the Shelves: The Politics of Creating a Diverse Comics Library

July 30, 2019

Rotem Diamant

Events, Presentations, Resource Guides

This post is the script from our presentation at the 2nd Annual Conference of the Comics Studies Society COMICS/POLITICS on July 25th (Community Day), at Ryerson University. This paper was written and presented by Rotem Anna Diamant, in collaboration with Brandon Haworth. Librarianship is a radical act. It is radical and political because libraries not only house and retrieve information freely, but also serve as meeting places for broad communities, for the creation of and meditation on thoughts, and more…

LGBTQ+ Comics Resources

June 23, 2019

Rotem Diamant

Resource Guides, Subject Displays

We hope everyone had a great Toronto pride weekend! To celebrate this month, we are showcasing comics in our collection about and by people from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. (LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning/queer; the plus (+) refers to the spectrum of gender and sexuality.) We cover a wide range of stories from “slice-of-life” everyday fiction, speculative fiction, anthologies and zines, to non-fiction comics, biographies, and visual essays. We have also gathered resources on LGBTQ+ comics…

Indigenous Comics

June 5, 2019

Rotem Diamant

Resource Guides, Subject Displays

This month, we are highlighting and celebrating Indigenous stories through our June library display, which will be up for National Indigenous History Month. We have also included resources below on Indigenous comics, including resources spotlighting Indigenous Creators, Indigenous-owned comics publishers as well as other Canadian publishers that focus on publishing Indigenous creators’ work. Please let us know if there are any comics resources you would recommend we add to this list, and visit us to read great comics by Indigenous…

Anne Frank's Diary- The Graphic Adaptation by Anne Frank, adapted by Ari Folman and illustrated by David Polonsky

Jewish Heritage Month, Asian Heritage Month, and celebrating Muslim, Arab, and MENA comics

May 1, 2019

Rotem Diamant

Subject Displays

Content warning: this post relates to the terrorist attacks this past weekend and earlier in March. Our most recent library display for the month of May follows in the wake of another anti-Semitic, racist, white-nationalist terrorist attack when a man filled with hate entered the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in San Diego and opened fire during the last day of Passover. This resulted in one murder and the injury of Jews in prayer, including children. This happened not long after…