"I am Marzi, born in 1979, ten years before the end of communism in Poland. My father works at a factory, my mother at a dairy. Social problems are at their height. Empty stores are our daily bread. I'm scared of spiders and the world of adults doesn't seem like a walk in the park."

Told from a young girl's perspective, Marzena Sowa's memoir of a childhood shaped by politics fits right in today’s world of political upheaval. The striking thing about her story is that in spite of the harsh realities of life behind the Iron Curtain, Marzi: A Memoir also portrays the simple normalcy of everyday life - going to school and to work, children playing in the courtyards, holidays.

Marzena’s stories are engaging while Sylvain Savoia’s art draws the reader in with many of the panels presented at a child’s level view. This is one story not to be missed.

Saturday, May 5 | 9:00 a.m.-Noon | Downtown Multipurpose Room | All Ages

Work as a family to make your own comics story!

In this hands-on workshop teaching artist Jerzy Drozd will show you how a cartoonist uses shape, size, and line to write with images. Then each family or group will divide up into a team consisting of a writer, artist, and letterer, switching between jobs with every page. The result is an improvisational cartoon story you create together.

This event, for all ages, coincides with Free Comic Book Day and Vault of Midnight will be donating comics to give away.

Monday, May 7 | 5-8 PM | Roos Roast - 1155 Rosewood St Suite B Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Local cartoonists and writers, here’s your chance for a little international comics exchange at the first ever KRCC Cross-Cultural Exchange hosted by Kids Read Comics Celebrations! A group of Australian cartoonists will be passing through the SE Michigan area, and they agreed to make a stop in Ann Arbor to meet up with area cartoonists for some drawing and conversation. We’ll be joined by:

· Pat Grant
· Ben Hutchings
· David Blumenstein
· Sarah Howell
· Gregory Mackay
· Michael Hawkins
· John Retallick

Roos Roast has generously offered us their studio space for the meetup. It’s the best coffee in town, and a terrific meeting space, so a good time is sure to be had!

Bring your favorite drawing supplies and let’s make some comics international style!

Sunday, May 6 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Downtown | 4th Floor Meeting Room

Gale Williams, cartoonist and creator of the weekly webcomic "Patbird and Galesaur", will demonstrate how to flat comics in Adobe Photoshop, and share tips and tricks to speed up your coloring process.

Join the Forum to get fresh ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing supplies will be provided, so drop in to draw, learn, share, and network with other cartoonists.

This event is for adults and teens (grade 6 and up).

History comes to life under the capable hands of graphic novelist Rick Geary. In the latest installment of his “Treasury of XXth Century Murder” Geary meticulously lays out the April 15, 1920 robbery and murder and outlines the evidence for and against the accused Nicolo Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. He also provides details of the trial of these two Italian immigrants. He discusses both men’s lives, the times in which they live,and why this case had worldwide impact. Geary provides the facts with impartiality. After reading The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti you get to decide whether these two men were villains or victims.

This Wednesday at 12:30 pm we hope you'll join us for the live Comics Are Great! show, produced in the AADL Netcast Studio!

We will be joined by Brianne Drouhard, storyboard artist, character designer, and animator whose credits include Teen Titans, Transformers: Animated, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Also on the roundtable we'll have Dan Mishkin, co-creator of Blue Devil and Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld.

Together we'll tackle the topic of writing adventure fiction for girls. What are the special considerations one must face when creating an action-oriented story for girls? Is it important to refer to current styles and technology, or does that make your story less "timeless"? How is writing adventure fiction for girls different than writing the same for boys? Or are they essentially the same?

You can join us in the chat live at Comicsaregreat.tv, participate via the #comicsaregreat Twitter hashtag, or by posting some comments here. What are some of your favorite adventure stories made for girls? What, if anything, made them different from similar stories made for boys?

Sunday, March 4 | 1:00-3:30 PM | Downtown 4th Floor Meeting Room

Comics writer Paul Storrie will talk about the importance of clearly conveying to the artists, letterers, & colorists what you want to see on the finished page so their already Herculean task isn't any harder than it has to be.

Beyond the basics of formatting and terminology for comic book scripting, Paul will also cover some of the most common mistakes made and how to avoid them.

Paul is the writer of the Twisted Journeys graphic novels that lets the reader control the story. He also is the writer of a number of heroic tales like Yu the Great: Conquering the Flood a Chinese legend.

Join the Forum to get fresh ideas for your next comics or graphic novel creation. Drawing supplies will be provided, so drop in to draw, learn, share, and network with other cartoonists.

This program is for teens (grades 6-12) and adults.

2nd Annual Mini-Comics Day | 10 a.m.-6 p.m. | Saturday, March 10, 2012 | Duderstadt Center

If you like making comics and meeting other cartoonists, here's your chance to complete a mini-comic, photocopy it, and swap with fellow artists all in a day. You can work alone or with others. Your mini-comic may be any number of pages. If you've never made a mini-comic before, no problem, come and find out what it's all about. For more details check the Mini-Comics Day FAQ.

Registration is now open-- send email to minicomics-2012@umich.edu to sign up!

Sunday, February 5 | 1:00-3:00 PM | Downtown Library | Multipurpose Room | Gr. 6-Adults

Welcome cartoonists Audra Furuichi and Scott Yoshinaga from sunny Honolulu, Hawaii (via Skype), as they discuss how they work together to create comics and run their business.

Audra and Scott are the co-creators of nemu*nemu, an original, online comic that has been running since 2006. Not only are they inspired by anime and manga, but the duo also strives to bring a touch of Saturday morning cartoons and Sunday funnies with a good dose of “small kid time” nostalgia to everything they do.

Sunday, January 15 | 1:00-4:00 PM | Downtown 3rd Floor Computer Training Center | Gr. 6-Adult

Bring in your comics art and use Photoshop Elements to clean it up and to apply color and shading. Cartoonist and Photoshop expert Jerzy Drozd will be on hand to provide instruction and answer questions for those who need it.

You can bring your comics art scanned and saved on a USB drive or we can scan it here at the Library. Don’t miss this chance to use PhotoShop to make your finishing work a snap!