In March, we hosted an event to launch our Graphic Novel Collection, bringing together students, staff and local creatives for an afternoon dedicated to all things comics and graphic novels. Guests had the opportunity to hear talks, take part in a comic drawing workshop and even pick up a few freebies courtesy of Forbidden Planet!

Lancaster University student Alice Kay-Wood spoke about taking inspiration from the Lancaster University campus to create her amazing comic mural for us, now displayed next to the Graphic Novel Collection on C Floor.

We also heard from Creative Writing PhD student Tammy Nicholls, who discussed comics as a research practice and shared her own comics inspired by the women in her family.

Finally, we were delighted to welcome local comic artist, illustrator and author Mollie Ray who delivered the keynote talk and led a comic drawing workshop based on turning blobs into characters and those characters into a comic strip.

Thanks also to Forbidden Planet, Lancaster University Manga and Anime Society and Dr Ines G Labarta for their support and contributions, and of course to everyone who came along and made it such a vibrant event!

The Graphic Novel Collection is available to browse and borrow on C Floor of the Library (look out for Alice’s mural to find where it is!).

If you’d like to be kept up to date with library comics news, send an email to facultylibrarians@lancaster.ac.uk with ‘comics news’ as the subject line.