Comics and young people in Finland

Recently I had the pleasure of doing a virtual lecture at lastenkirjainstituutti (The Finnish Institute for Children´s Literature) about Comics as Youth and Young adult literature. It was a great audience who had interesting questions to ask and comments to make. Kiitos paljon!

The lecture is online along with other lectures in the lecture series.

comics and science In Vejle

The library in Vejle has invited me to do a talk “Videnskabsfolk i tegneserier - gakkede, gale og geniale“ on the wonders of science in comics. It will be live streamed to other libraries as well. The talk is in Danish on Wednesday May 18th.

Discussing student engagement with online annotations

I am excited to be taking part in a discussion of how we can use hypothes.is to engage students in our courses in materials with online collaborative annotations in a special session on the 2021 Technology Enhanced Learning Symposium , Tuesday May 11th.

EXPLORE UT - SCANDINAVIAN SERIES

My amazing colleagues Sandy Straubhaar (Norwegian) and Smyth Johansson (Swedish) and I have set up a small, virtual, Scandinavian stall at this year’s Explore UT.Come with us to Scandinavia!

Services for Students with Disabilities

I participated in a video to help inform faculty and students about letters of accommodations for students with disabilities and how to have a conversation with students about it.

Fall Danish class

We begin a new first-year Danish course in the fall here at UT. You can get your language requirement, learn a new language and learn about culture. Come join us, Danish class is a lot of fun!

Wondering what students think of Danish at Ut?

See what my amazing students think about learning Danish at UT:

Comics and Vikings interview

My colleague at University of Boulder, Colorado, Dr. Mathias Nordvig, has a Youtube channel (go check it out!) where he interviews people on topics in Norse mythology.

We talked about Vikings and Marvel Thor being a woman:

Talk about comics and graphic novels

I will be at UW Madison, Wisconsin to talk about the development of comics and graphic novels in November.

Nordic Comics talk at PLU

Pacific Lutheran University has invited me to do their 2019 Bjug Harstad Lecture which will be on comics and graphic novels in the Nordic countries.

New peer reviewed article

A version of the article I wrote in Danish as "Kverneland og Fiske på sporet : Re-tracing som værktøj for kunstnerbiografien i tegneserier" in Kunst og Kultur 4/2017 (volum 100) is now published in English with ImageText as “Kverneland and Fiske in the Footsteps of Great Artists: Re-tracing as a Tool for Artist Biographies in comics form” in ImageText Volume 10, Issue 3.

Sound in Comics

I recently contributed to The Middle Spaces Seeing Sounds / Hearing Pictures – A Round Table on Sound & Comics (part two) with a text on J.P Ahonen’s work in the crossover between metal music and comics, asking the question: How can multimediality make music in comics audible?

It is a great round table, so please check out all the others contributions, so much great work being done in comics studies at the moment!

Article in New Book

Anne Mette W. Nielsen and I have written an article about our thoughts on how to use creative making in teaching. The article is called "Artistic makings as a method of inquiry in Higher Education" and is published in The Creative University - Contemporary Responses to the Changing Role of the University edited by Birthe Lund and Sophia Arndt published at Brill/Sense.

Migration in Comics Conference in Minneapolis

On October 4th-6th I will be in Minneapolis for a conference on migration in comics where I will be discussing Halfdan Pisket’s Dansker-trilogy.

SASS conference in Los Angeles

From May 4th to May 5th I was at the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Conference in Los Angeles at UCLA. I presented a paper called "A nuanced history through comics - new perspectives on an old Danish love triangle" on Karoline Stjernfelt's historical comic "I morgen bliver bedre". I also manged to go see Venice beach.

Swedish autobiographical comics

Thursday May 26th we have a visit from Dr. Nina Ernst who is doing two talks about Swedish autobiographical comics. With the generous support of the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Endowment.

Frostbitten: Nordic Metal Seminar

I want to thank my co-speakers Tore Tvarnø Lind and Mathias Nordvig  for taking the trip to UT and Austin to share their thoughts with us. Thank you to everyone who came out to discuss with us. I had a great time, tak!

Frostbitten: Nordic Metal Seminar

Tuesday March 27th I have a few good colleagues visiting Austin and together we will make a seminar with talks on different aspects of metal in the Nordic countries.

Come join us!

Graphic novels and comics at Yarborough

It might look like I am dancing, but really I am just discussing comics and graphic novels in teaching with the home school support group at Yarborough library. I had a great time, thank you for having me!

Teaching Comics at the Library

On February 14th I will be at the Austin Public Library Yarborough branch talking about comics and teaching in all its many forms. Please join us to get inspired for your own  classes!

New Article in Kunst og Kultur

I have written an article about Norwegian comics artists Steffen Kverneland and Lars Fiske´s particular way of writing artist biographies in the comics format.

If you read Danish, check it out!

Halfdan Pisket´s Dansker in Minnesota

I guest taught a class on Halfdan Pisket´s comic Dansker in the class Cultural Encounters in C Comics at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Professor of German Ruediger Singer had invited me via Skype to lead the discussion. The students asked really good questions and had great insights to offer. Comic about Turkish/ Armenian immigrant in Denmark taught in German and English by Dane and German in the US. Cultural encounters indeed.

New courses in the fall

I have made a small video presenting my class Northern European Comics for this fall semester. Watch it here.

I am also teaching a language class DAN 604. So if you need a global cultures flag, a writing flag or a language requirement, you might want to check these two courses out.

Monstrous Women in Comics

Thursday 25th - Saturday 27th of May I will be in Denton, Tx at University of North Texas to talk at the Monstrous Women in Comics conference.

I will be discussing Støvle- Katrine and Caroline Mathilde from Karoline Stjernfelt´s I morgen bliver bedre as monstrous women. Come join the fun!

Talking Comics and Teaching in Vancouver

I am thrilled to be talking about Comics and teaching at University of British Columbia on March 16th. I am visiting Danish lectureer Jens Mornrad and will also be joining his culture class to talk about Danish comics.

Come join us to talk about comics and teaching!

Article in Standart

As per usual, I have an article in the newest issue of Standart in the series on contemporary comics in the Nordic countries. This time we have reached Norway.

Course on Contemporary Scandinavian Stories

I have made a video to advertise the course I am teaching this semester on Contemporary Scandinavian Stories at University of Texas, Austin. I am thrilled to teach this course and excited to be discussing all this fascinating Scandinavian material!

MLA Conference 2017

I just came back from Philadelphia, where I presented the paper "Past and Present Colors: Drawing Style as Temporal Framework in Comics" about the work of Finnish author Tiitu Takalo on the panel Graphic Narrative, Comics, and Temporality. The panel was arranged by Martha Kuhlman and also counted Charlotta Salmi and Joshua Kopin. We had a great discussion on the complex temporalities of comics.

New Series: Comics in the North

I have started a new series in the journal Standart on comics in the Nordic countries (in Danish) the first section is in the new issue which has a wonderful cover by Line Refstrup.

Informations Comics

I have written an article for the Nordic journal Sakprosa where I discuss different types of information comics and their uses in education (in Danish).

New Nordic comics article

Ralf Kauranen and I just published an article on Nordic comics in The Journal of Aesthetics and Culture for their theme on the New Nordic. Many interesting articles in there alongside ours, so go check it out!

Review of Comics History

I have reviewed Øyvind Holen and Tore strand Olsens Tegneserienes Historie in the Norwegian magazine Ekfrase.

Comics on litteratursiden.dk

I recently wrote a small piece on comics for litteratursiden.dk. It is part of their mini-theme on comics and adresses what is exciting about comics right now. Read here (in Danish).

Superheroes on the radio

During the summer, I visited the Danish radio program Romerriget along with fellow superhero researchers Carsten Fogh Nielsen and Thomas Bjerre to discuss all things superhero. Listen to our conversation led by host Knud Romer here.

Recommendations in nummer9

For those who read Danish I give 5 recommendations for academic books on comics to read that might provoke thought and have you think about comics in news ways. It is in Danish online comics magazine nummer9.dk. One of the books I recommend is Graphic Medicine Manifesto by MK Czerwiec og Ian Williams, Susan Merrill Squier, Michael J. Green, Kimberly R. Myers and Scott T. Smith.

Book Review in European Comic Art

I have only just realised now that my book review of Comic Book Geographies edited by Jason Dittmer is in vol 9.1 of the journal European Comic Art.

Symposium on Comics in Kent

I had the great pleasure of responding to a panel at the Comics Crossroads at the University of Kent 26th of June. Great panels and great discussions.

Look out for the second Comics Crossroads symposium for post graduate students in October.

Conference at Roskilde university

I was at the Critical Edge Alliance Conference at the University of Roskilde on June 22-24th presenting a paper with my co-author Anne Mette W. Nielsen about Book Publishing as Collaborative Learning Practice.

Article on Persepolis

I have written a short piece (in Danish) about Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis for the Danish online magazine Baggrund as part of a theme on Iran. Anyone interested in the topic should check out the whole thing on their website baggrund.com.

A note on Comics and Teaching

In November I visited the Oulu Comics Festival to talk about comics and teaching. In the festival programme, I wrote a small article on how that connection can be made based on the work I have been doing with Mette Jørgesen in the book Tegneserier og Tekstlæsning.

Review of Exhibition in Empirix

I have written a review in the Norwegian online magazine comics Empirix of the exhibition on architecture and comics at Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo. The show is on until 28th of February, so go check it out.

New book out June 2015

Mette Jørgensen and I have written a book about how to use comics in teaching both to analyze comics and to make comics as a way of analyzing canonical texts. "Tegneserier og Tekstlæsning" is here.

The NNCORE anthology is here

Erin La Cour, Anne Magnussen and I have edited the NNCORE anthology Comics and Power which is out at Cambridge Scholar Publishing.

I have a chapter in it as well, co-written with Erin La Cour:  “Opening a “Thirdspace”: the Unmasking Effects of Comics”.

Talk at the Oulu Comics Festival

On November 4-8 I was at Oulu Comics festival where I talked about teaching and comics and the book Mette Jørgensen and I wrote on the subject. 

article from the Modern heavy Metal Conference is online

The article called "'By the Cake of the Dark Lord!' - Metal in three Nordic Comics" is now online as part of the conference proceedings from the Modern Heavy Metal Conference 2015, Helsinki.

Seriemedicin on the radio

For those understanding Danish and interested in the interdisciplinary field of comics and medicine, comics creator Allan Haverholm and I discussed graphic medicine and presented the genre in the Danish radio channel Radio 24syv.

New article on differentiated instruction in teacher training

My good colleague Pia Rose Böwadt and I just published an article in the new issue of Studier i læreruddannelse og -profession focused on quality in teacher education. Our article is called “Undervisningsdifferentiering som en praksis på læreruddannelsen?” and discusses the result of a survey where we asked teacher educators about their praxis on differentiated instruction and how they understand diversity in that context. Lots of interesting points made!

Lecture on Iranian Comics

November 22nd I lectured at Folkeuniversitetet in their lecture series on Iran. Previous lectures have been on literature and film - my topic was Iranian comics. Great audience, I was excited to get a chance to show examples and discuss these fascinating works.

NEW Report on differentiated instruction

With my colleagues Pia Rose Böwadt and Bjarke Jespersen, I recently authored a report on a study we did of differentiated instruction at University College Copenhagen’s Teacher Education (In Danish): "Det er vanskeligt at undervisningsdifferentiere på læreruddannelsen": en rapport om undervisningsdifferentiering blandt læreruddannere.

New book on Comics Research

It has been a long time in the making, but finally it is here! I am so happy with this collaboration and the chance to get to work with amazing minds Maheen Ahmed and Julia Round on this book project. The book provides an overview over some of the developments in the research into comics and graphic novels. It is meant as a place to start for students, scholars and other folks interested in the field. Hopefully, some of you will use it to discover new avenues or perspectives to consider.

Halfway to Hell - talk on Nordic comics

I am giving a talk at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in collaboration with the Danish metal festival Copenhell as part of their seminar “Halfway to Hell: Conversations on metal”, Friday June 17th. The talk is in Danish, so come join us for an afternoon of conversations about metal. There will be comics!

Key Terms in Comics Studies Published

I am very happy and proud to be part of this publication alongside some of the finest comics scholars around. An important work for those wanting to get to know more about comics studies and well worth a peek for those of us who think we know all about it already. Huge thanks to the editors and a special shout out to Simon Grennan for the cover drawing.

LGBTQIA+ and comics on Danish Radio

The recent news about Jon Kent means that I was invited on Kulturen på P1 to talk about the history of LGBTQIA+, comics and representation.

If you understand Danish, please go ahead and give it a listen.

Comics and Social Justice

The newest issue of Anglofiles has made it all the way over the Atlantic with a theme on graphic novels. I am excited to see so many great articles on the topic. I am contributing with a piece on comics and social justice.

Student work in POMEmag

In the fall semester class “Northern European Comics” we collaborated with POMEmag in writing articles about our topic that would interest their readers. I am very proud that one of our students, Meghan Mallya, just had her article on transnational adoption in Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom’s Palimsest published. Thank you to POMEmag for collaborating with us and thank you to my students for sharing their writing with each other and the magazine!

Teaching Comics in the Fall

This fall, I am teaching GSD341Q Northern European Comics and I am so excited. The class carries a Global Cultures Flag and a Writing Flag, so we get to read, write and discuss comics and their cultural entanglements.

Online course promotion

Since all out teaching has moved online, our promotion for the fall classes have too. Check out the new video advertising Danish and Scandinavian culture courses in the fall.

H.C. Andersen in San Antonio

Interview in Life and Letters

I have been interviewed for College of Liberal Art’s magazine about my work in comics and teaching. Thank you for talking to me!

Contribution to new publication on post post-modernism

Anne Mette W. Nielsen and I have contributed to a very exciting collection of mini articles in Educational Philosophy and Theory Volume 50, 2018 - Issue 14: Special issue: What Comes After Postmoderism?. Our contribution is called "What comes after postmodernism? – Material making, creative production and artistic figuration as ways to re-organize pedagogical culture!" and discusses some of our thoughts on how important creative makings are for teaching in Higher Education.

New article in Standart

I have written an article about comics and Young Adult in the Danish magazine Standart

Article in comics form

Danish Musicology Online has been interested in experimental academic texts, and I just published a peer reviewed article with them in the form of a comic. I hope you will enjoy "Aesthetics of Black Metal in Nordic Comics", I really enjoyed making it.

Hand drawn syllabus

I finished my syllabus for the Northern European Comics course. It took forever to draw it by hand, but it was worth it. So much fun drawing!  

SASS conference in Minneapolis

May 11th-13tth I was at the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies Conference in Minneapolis. I talked about Halfdan Pisket´s comics trilogy and constructions of identity.

Skriblerier i Standart

My column in Standart continues its travels around the comics scene in the Nordic countries and has reached Sweden in this issue. Also, I am reviewing Lars Horneman and Morten Dürr´s Zenobia. it is an incredible comic about a refugee girl from Syria. Go read!

Visit from DR. Martin Lund

My esteemed colleague Martin Lund visited the Germanic Studies Department to discuss with my GSD class on contemporary Scandinavian comics, talk Swedish with the Swedish class and do a lecture on A History of Swedish Comics.

Great talk, thank you Martin! 

Language Teaching Award

My fantastic Danish students voted me the best language teacher this year at UT!

I am very honoured and Danishly embarrassed...

Article in Dansk Noter

I have written an article (in Danish) in the recent issue of Dansk Noter about comics. It has recommendations for what to read, examples from Halfdan Pisket and Karoline Stjernfelt´s work and a little about teaching comics.

Review of Kundskabens Frugt

I have reviewed Liv strömquist's comic Kundskabens Frugt in the new issue of Standart. 

Superheroines in Politiken

Carsten Fogh Nielsen and I talk about the recent popularity of superheroines in comics, TV-series and film in an article in Politiken.

New article in SJoCA 2:1

I have an article in the new issue of SJoCA (Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art) about Martin Kellerman’s Comic Strip Rocky.

Program ready for the Mind over metal conference in Odense

I will be one of the keynote speakers along with a lot of very interesting keynotes.

Please join us in December for Mind over Metal!

Talk about Metal and Comics at the University of Turku

I did the talk "Swallow his Fury into your Heart - Metal Cultures in a few Nordic Comics" at the Janus Lecture Hall, University of Turku, September 16th.

The talks from Research Friday "The Documentary Comic" at Copenhagen Comics Festival, University of Copenhagen is now online as podcasts.

Listen to Allan Haverholm talk about Graphic Medicine, MA students present their research, Øyvind Vågnes discuss documentary comics, Bigger Picture invite adults to start drawing more, Gunhild Borggreen present Yoshimotos Kôji's manga Santetsu on the Fukushima catastrophe and Christoffer Zieler interview comics artist Halfdan Pisket.

Øyvind Vågnes' presentation is in english, the rest is in Danish.

Comics and Text Reading on TV

In August I joined Carl Quist Møller at the Danish TV program "Kulturen" at TV2 NEWS to discuss comics in teaching focusing on the book "Tegneserier og Tekstlæsning" I have written with Mette Jørgensen.