What are graphic narratives? How do I create a compelling comic or graphic novel? How can I be published?
Express Media is proud to present the 2022 return of Toolkits Connect: Graphic Narratives – an online course in the forms, skills, and ethics of creating graphic narratives. The program includes specialised presentations from guest artists and industry experts, the opportunity to connect with and learn from an established writer and network with other young writers in the same literary form, as well as to contribute to an outcome towards the end of the program (format to be determined by the group and facilitator).
During this 12-week intensive, 10 young writers explore the many and varied formats of graphic storytelling. Participants will both learn the applications of graphic storytelling and discuss the history and innovations of this unique literary practice. Toolkits Connect: Graphic Narratives covers a strong foundation in the familiar, such as comic strips, graphic novels, and manga, but isn’t afraid to branch into the experimental.
Writers will meet as a group with Eloise Grills fortnightly on Wednesday evenings, connecting young Australian writers and offering opportunities for skill sharing and development. These meetings will foster community, encourage writers to develop a regular working practice and open a space to receive encouragement/guidance. During the off-weeks, the group and their facilitator will connect and share their work via a private online Discord channel, fostering connection and establishing relationships across the full 12 weeks.
Participants also have the chance to learn from some of Australia’s best comics artists, with special guests Elizabeth McFarlane and Safdar Ahmed presenting live and online sessions for the next generation across the country.
If you are a young writer or artist interested in graphic storytelling, we want to hear from you!
Become an Express Media Member!
Applications to Toolkits Connect are free for Express Media members along with a number of other perks, events, and opportunities. If you’re not already a member, you can easily sign up here.
Note: Express Media is committed to access, so if you would like to sign up and are experiencing financial hardship, please contact us via info@expressmedia.org.au to be awarded one of our sponsored memberships.
Have a question? Need help with your application? Send an email to Express Media’s Creative Producer Magenta Sheridan atcreativeproducer@expressmedia.org.au.
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Season two facilitator
Eloise Grills is an award-winning writer, comics artist, poet and critic living on unceded Jaara land. Her work has been published widely in literary journals and anthologies including Meanjin, The Nib, The Rumpus, Going Down Swinging, Kill Your Darlings, Sydney Review of Books, The Lifted Brow and Borderless. She has been the recipient of many grants, including competitive funding from the Australia Council, the Copyright Agency and Creative Victoria. Essays from her illustrated memoir, big beautiful female theory (Affirm Press 2022), won the Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2021 and the Lifted Brow and RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Nonfiction in 2018. She co-authored the graphic memoir Dog Park (Glom Press 2021) with Radha O’Meara and wrote and illustrated the graphic memoir, Sexy Female Murderesses (Glom Press 2018) and tweets and grams at @grillzoid
Have a question? Need help with your application? Send an email to Express Media’s Creative Producer Magenta Sheridan at creativeproducer@expressmedia.org.au.
Toolkits Connect: Graphic Narratives is generously supported by The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund
