We have been talking about this for a little while and, as it is the season for dressing up as your favourite superhero, the time has come for a panel on the world of comics, cosplay and how to set up you own mini (or maxi) conventions. Our grand plan is that our panel of library, literature, popular culture and costume enthusiasts will illustrate that engaging youth and exploring identity is accessible, fun and won’t break the bank.
The skilled panelists are as follows:
Jack Chan
Jack is the Community Coordinator at Mill Park Library (Yarra Plenty Regional Library), having been a librarian for about 17 years now and at Mill Park for the last 15 years. Jack’s current role is to develop partnerships, events and programs for the wider community and he has a huge interest in popular culture and offering different experiences for the community. Some experience highlights over the last 12 months have been:
Crime bus tours, Local ghost tours, Virtual reality, Forensic talks, Community expos and Mill Park Library Comic-Con
Angela and Anthony from Northern Cosplay Society
Northern Cosplay Society are an Australian not-for-profit cosplay group that participate in popular culture/cosplay events across the northern suburbs of Melbourne. NCS assisted Mill Park with their recent Comic-Con.
Jes Layton
Jes Layton is a geek with a hat, who writes about, draws, and discusses queer-nerdy things in Naarm. She is the Administration Officer for the UNESCO Melbourne City of Literature office, a freelancer, and a YA writer/advocate. His work has been published with The Victorian Writer, Reading Victoria, Junkee, “Others”: An RMIT Anthology, and with Black Inc Books. This year Jes was an Outstanding LGBTQIA+ Short Stories Award recipient. You can find Jes on twitter: @AGeekWithaHat
Leonee Derr
In 2006, Leonee started in libraries working predominantly with youth. Over the years she has advocated for the importance of story as a tool for achieving public libraries’ goals of education, discovery, inclusion and connection. That advocacy was and continues to be through community programming, the reimagining of library spaces, and inclusion of (perceived) non-traditional library content to diversify reading opportunities. Leonee believes libraries are radical and hopes they always will be.
Places strictly limited.
This cardiParty will be followed by a short Annual General Meeting – all newCardigan members are invited to join us from 7:45.
Getting There
We strongly recommend taking public transport or walking/cycling to this event.
Tram: 19 (stop 11) – recommended or 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72 (stop 1)
Bus: 505, 546
Train: Flinders St or Melbourne Central and then catch the 19 Tram
Car Parking: Limited street parking is available on the Faraday and surrounding streets. There is also a carpark under the Nova cinemas, which is a short walk away.
Accessibility
Kathleen Syme is a fully accessible library.
Continue the conversation
The Clyde Hotel from 8pm
