Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Blog

Join our special guest DANA SIMPSON this Thursday, September 28 from 3:00 to 3:50 pm at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Tom Spurgeon will be speaking with Dana for the first of our Skill Set series during Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC). A special thank you to GoComics for their sponsorship!

Dana Simpson has enjoyed one of the great success stories this decade with the newspaper strip and print collection of Phoebe and her Unicorn. She is also one of the rare cartoonists to make the jump from on-line presentation to the printed form.

Dana Simpson first caught the eyes of comics readers with internet strip Ozy and Millie. After winning the 2009 Comic Strip Superstar contest, Simpson developed the strip Phoebe and Her Unicorn (originally known as Heavenly Nostrils), which is now syndicated in over 200 newspapers worldwide. There are five book collections: Phoebe and Her Unicorn, Unicorn on a Roll, Unicorn vs. Goblins, Razzle Dazzle Unicorn, and Unicorn Crossing. Simpson’s books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and won the Washington State Book Award and the Pacific Northwest Book Award.

On Sunday, October 1 at 1:30 pm, Dana will also be part of the panel Comics Are For Kids: Straight From The Creators’ Mouths at the Columbus Metropolitan Library (Downtown Branch, Room 1-A). This panel (also featuring Mike Maihack (Cleopatra In Space) and Judd Winick (Hilo)) addresses kids and those that wish to create for them, providing a comprehensive education for approaches, strategies and reasons for success in comics’ fastest-growing category!

Immediately following the panel, from 2:30 to 3:20 pm on Sunday, Dana will be signing comics at the Kids Comics Signapalooza (Across From Room 1-A) Dana will be signing alongside Jeff Smith, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Mike Maihack, and Judd Winick! Get those comics signed!

You can also find Dana exhibiting at the CXC Expo and Marketplace (also at the Columbus Metropolitan Library) on Saturday, September 30 from 11 am – 6 pm and Sunday, October 1 from noon-5 pm.

Dana Simpson is one of the Billy Ireland’s four special guests arriving this week. We will also be welcoming Kat Fajardo, Derf Backderf, and Signe Wilkinson!

A full schedule of CXC events can be found here.  All events are FREE and open to the public, including Friday night’s opening reception and Billy Ireland 40^th anniversary celebration!

Next week the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum will be hosting a full schedule of FREE events the first two days (Thursday and Friday) of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus – CXC, a four-day city-wide festival. We are very excited to welcome our special guests this year, one of whom is Pulitzer Prize winner SIGNE WILKINSON.

On Friday, September 29 at 11 am, join Signe for a Skill Set talk in the Billy Ireland’s Eisner Seminar Room. Signe will sit down with Tom Spurgeon to talk about her career to date, and answer directed questions about the artistic strengths and professional choices that have led to her success. Don’t miss a chance to hear from this iconic artist, the first female Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial cartooning!

On Saturday, September 30 at 2:00 pm, Wilkinson will join cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Nate Beeler for a panel on CARTOONING IN THE AGE OF TRUMP at the Columbus Metropolitan Library (downtown branch).  Three of the best editorial cartoonists in the nation sit down with newspaperman Dan Gearino to talk about the challenges and pressures of cartooning in a time of rolling political turmoil. Telnaes is also a Pulitzer Prize winner, and received the prestigious Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 2017. They join The Columbus Dispatch’s own super-talented Nate Beeler.

Signe is the creator of daily editorial cartoons and national cartoons syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group.

Signe is one of the Billy Ireland’s four special guests arriving next week. We will also be welcoming Kat Fajardo, Derf Backderf, and Dana Simpson.

A full schedule of CXC events can be found here. All events are FREE and open to the public, including Friday night’s opening reception and Billy Ireland 40^th anniversary celebration!