The Small Press Expo (SPX) Collection at the Library of Congress was established to preserve the history of both the artistic output of the creators who come to SPX, as well as the art that SPX itself generates as part of its yearly festival. SPX provides a forum for artists, writers and publishers of comic art in its various forms to present to the public comic art not accessible through normal commercial channels. Please join us for the 10th annual Library of Congress SPX lecture: Tillie Walden, Ideas for Tomorrow: The Future of Queer Comics on Friday September 13th, 2024 at noon in the Madison Building in Dining Room A, Room LM-620. This event is free and no advance registration is required. If you can’t make it in-person, you can join the event online via Zoom.
Tillie Walden is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator and a teacher at the The Center for Cartoon Studies. Walden’s lecture will discuss her career, artistic process, and considerations about the future of the medium. Walden is the author of the graphic novels “Spinning” and “On a Sunbeam,” which are part of the Small Press Expo Collection at the Library which you can access in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room. The lecture will be accompanied by a display of historic and contemporary LGBTQIA+ comics and graphic novels, with an emphasis on materials within the SPX collection. Some titles on display will include: works by Tillie Walden, Dyke Shorts by Mary Wings, Hothead Paisan by Diane DiMassa, as well as early issues of Gay Comix.
Through October, the Library also celebrates the 30th Anniversary of SPX with an exhibit of SPX ephemera and collection materials, including original works by Tillie Walden, on the 2nd floor of the Jefferson Building. There is also an SPX exhibit in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room highlighting the 2023 Ignatz Award winning material from SPX, which will be on display through the end of September.
Keep Exploring:
- Explore the Small Press Expo Web Archive, which includes the archived websites of the SPX Festival and participating creators and award winners
- Watch Tillie Walden at the National Book Festival in 2018
- Watch past Small Press Expo lectures at the Library of Congress