Comic book, graphic novel and zine enthusiasts will come together at the inaugural Nashville Comic Arts Festival on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Vanderbilt University’s Central Library.
The free event, which is open to the public, will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Central Library Community Room. The festival is presented by Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, the Nashville Public Library and Wakeup Comics.
Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with more than 40 exhibitors representing the independent and small-press comics and publishing communities in Nashville and across the South. The event will feature panel discussions, workshops and a pair of special guests:
Malaka Gharib is the Nashville-based author of I Was Their American Dream, a graphic memoir published in 2019 about her experiences as a first-generation Filipino Egyptian American, which won an Arab American Book Award in 2020. In 2022, she published It Won’t Always Be Like This, a graphic memoir about her summers in the Middle East. Gharib’s comics and writing have been published by the Los Angeles Times, Catapult, The Believer and The New Yorker, and she has been profiled in The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Scout Underhill’s debut graphic novel is DnDoggos: Get the Party Started, which Kirkus Reviews called “a smart, endearing tale packed with adorable dogs and useful tips for role-playing game newcomers.” Underhill is a Nashville-based storyteller who enjoys weaving tales through sequential art. According to their website, “seeing the world as comics allows them to appreciate many small joys and to remain ever curious about nature, art and life.”
The goal of the inaugural festival is to give local, independent comics creators a chance to showcase their work and share it with a wider audience, both in the Nashville community and on the Vanderbilt campus, said Ryan King, librarian for English, Theatre, and Culture, Advocacy and Leadership for the Heard Libraries.
“We hope to highlight these talented creators and show off their wide range of voices, diverse backgrounds and unique storytelling—which ranges from fantasy, to funny or whimsical, to more serious, slice-of-life comics,” said King, who also is eager to expand the libraries’ circulating collection of graphic novels and build on the strength of the rare comics collection within Special Collections and University Archives.
As part of the festival, the Heard Libraries will partner with Vanderbilt’s International Lens film series for a screening of No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics at Sarratt Cinema on Thursday, Sept. 12.
For more information about the Nashville Comic Arts Festival, visit nashcomicsfest.wordpress.com, or follow @nashvillecomicartsfestival on Instagram or @nashcomicfest on X.