Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Mark June 20th off on your calendar


The Latitudes Storytelling Festival is up and at them again this year in Victoria Park. And among their selection will be Mariko Tamaki!

I read Tamaki's graphic novel Skim when it was distributed infrequently and on an issues basis through Kiss Machine Magazine, now since defunct. Actually I missed the very last issue so had to wait until the complete story was issued in hardcover about a year ago. And what a story.
Beautiful, haunting, with a methodic pace, Skim is tops.
Set in 1994, Skim (Kimberly Keiko) and her friend Lisa are outcasts at school, self-imposed. Disgusted by the drama they see around them after a schoolmate has died (I'm pretty sure this is the plot, it HAS been a year since I read it), Skim and Lisa hibernate socially until graduation.


Then Skim meets Ms. Archer, a supply teacher and a babe and her world goes drama-rama.

The illustration is stark black and white and has the grace of Japanese prints. Skim also just won the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Book. And she's a cool lookin' lady.

Mandy

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