August 2023 MBR The Literary Studies Shelf

The Literary Studies Shelf

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature
Kelcey Ervick, editor
Tom Hart, editor
Rose Metal Pres
PO Box 1956, Brookline, MA 02446
https://rosemetalpress.com
9781941628294,$24.95, 296pp

https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Press-Field-Graphic-Literature/dp/194162829X

Synopsis: The fourth volume in the immensely popular Field Guide series and collabortively compiled and co-edited by Tom Hart and Kelcey Ervick, "The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature: Artists and Writers on Creating Graphic Narratives, Poetry Comics, and Literary Collage" gives readers unprecedented insight into the techniques of 28 of today's most innovative creators of poetry comics, graphic narratives, and image-text hybrids.

With original craft essays, corresponding exercises, and full-color examples of their work, each contributor offers reflection and instruction informed by their own methods and processes. From mark-making and page composition to deeper renderings of place, character, and voice, this much-needed guide to the field illuminates and demystifies the process of creating image+text work.

Co-editors Kelcey Ervick and Tom Hart also provide a historical introduction that links today's graphic literature to visual storytelling of the past and helpful pedagogical resources to round out the volume. "The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature" is a book for writers who want to make graphic narratives and literary collage, illustrators and comics artists exploring new approaches to storytelling, teachers encouraging their students to work with image and text, and anyone curious about what one contributor calls "comics magic."

"The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature" features contributions by: Justine Mara Andersen, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Leonie Brialey, Thi Bui, Sharon Lee De La Cruz, David Dodd, Lee, Arwen Donahue, Trinidad Escobar, Naoko Fujimoto, Marnie Galloway, Lauren Haldeman, Tom Hart, Mira Jacob, Keith Knight, Aidan Koch, Matt Madden, Mita Mahato, Deborah A. Miranda, Josh Neufeld, Dustin Parsons, Zeke Pena, Nick Francis Potter, Kristen Radtke, Scott Roberts, Alexander Rothman, Eleni Sikelianos, Bianca Stone, and Lawrence Sutin.

Critique: Exceptionally well organized and presented, "The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature: Artists and Writers on Creating Graphic Narratives, Poetry Comics, and Literary Collage" will be of particular interest to readers studying the art of the essay, literary criticism, and graphic art storytelling. "The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Graphic Literary Studies collections and supplemental Visual Arts curriculum lists.

Editorial Note #1: Kelcey Ervick (https://kelceyervick.com) is the author of the graphic memoir, The Keeper (Avery, 2022). Her previous award- winning books are The Bitter Life of Bozena Nemcova, a text and image biographical collage, and two works of fiction, Liliane's Balcony (Rose Metal Press, 2013) and For Sale by Owner (Kore Press, 2011). Her comics have been published widely, including in The Washington Post, The Believer, and Lit Hub, and two featured comics series of hers have appeared in The Rumpus. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati and is a professor of English at Indiana University South Bend, where she teaches creative writing, comics, and literary collage.

Editorial Note: Tom Hart (https://www.tomhart.net) is the author/artist of The New York Times #1 bestselling graphic memoir Rosalie Lightning (St. Martin's Press, 2016) and of The Art of the Graphic Memoir (St. Martin's Griffin, 2018). He is the executive director of The Sequential Artists Workshop, an organization and school for comics and graphic novels in Gainesville, Florida, which also offers extensive online courses. Before founding SAW, Tom was a core instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City for 10 years.

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