BABEL: Alison Bechdel (In-Person & Online)
Join Just Buffalo Literary Center for an evening with award-winning cartoonist Alison Bechdel.
Alison Bechdel is an internationally beloved cartoonist whose darkly humorous graphic memoirs, astute writing and evocative drawing have forged an unlikely intimacy with a wide and disparate range of readers. For twenty-five years Alison self-syndicated Dykes to Watch Out For. The award-winning generational chronicle has been called “one of the pre-eminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period” by Ms. Magazine. From the strip was born the now-famous “Bechdel Test,” which measures gender bias in film.
Her first graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic was named the Best Book of the Year by TIME, describing the tightly architected investigation into her closeted bisexual father’s suicide “a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other.” Fun Home was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award and was adapted into a Broadway musical that has won five Tony Awards, including “Best Musical.” Alison is also the author of Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama, which delves into her relationship with her mother, as well as the theories of the 20th century British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott.
Alison was the recipient of a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2014 she received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. In their citation the MacArthur Foundation noted that Alison “is changing our notions of the contemporary memoir and expanding the expressive potential of the graphic form.” In 2017, Alison was ushered in as Vermont’s third cartoonist laureate.
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Advance purchase of in-person tickets is now closed. Please buy tickets upon arrival at the event, starting at 7 PM. Virtual-only tickets can still be purchased online at the button below.
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Featured Book: The Secret To Superhuman Strength
Alison Bechdel’s latest work, a profoundly affecting graphic memoir titled The Secret to Superhuman Strength, was released in 2021. The Guardian calls the memoir, “quietly astonishing” and “extraordinarily generous.” Comics and cultural superstar Alison Bechdel delivers a deeply layered story of her fascination, from childhood to adulthood, with every fitness craze to come down the pike: from Jack LaLanne in the 60s (“Outlandish jumpsuit! Cantaloupe-sized guns!”) to the existential oddness of present-day spin class. Readers will see their athletic or semi-active pasts flash before their eyes through an ever-evolving panoply of running shoes, bicycles, skis, and sundry other gear. But the secret to superhuman strength lies not in six-pack abs, but in something much less clearly defined: facing her own non-transcendent but all-important interdependence with others.
COVID Safety Protocols
In order to protect the health, safety and enjoyment of all, we are implementing the following COVID safety protocols:
- Proof of COVID-19 vaccination (Excelsior pass or vaccination card) is required for admittance.
- A masking policy will be in effect for all staff, volunteers, and attendees at Kleinhans Music Hall.
- A simulcast recording of the event will be provided to all ticket holders to watch from home, if unable to attend in-person for any reason; the link will be sent in advance to the email address used when purchasing tickets.
- These policies are subject to revision as health and safety guidelines change, including a pivot to virtual-only. You will receive emails prior to each BABEL event to confirm our most up-to-date policies.
- Please note that we are unable to provide refunds for tickets; if unable to attend in-person for any reason, ticket holders have the ability to access the event via simulcast recording.
- Our COVID-19 vaccination and masking policies are aligned with those of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, with the additional steps of requiring vaccination & social distancing. More policy details can be found here.
Date
- Wednesday, March 16, 2022
- Expired!
Time
Doors & VIP Patron Reception at 7:00 p.m. | Event at 8:00 p.m.- 8:00 pm
Location
- 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY 14201 (Free Parking) / Online via Livestream
Featured Artist
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Alison BechdelCartoonistAlison Bechdel is an internationally beloved cartoonist whose darkly humorous graphic memoirs, astute writing and evocative drawing have forged an unlikely intimacy with a wide and disparate range of readers. For twenty-five years Alison self-syndicated Dykes to Watch Out For. The award-winning generational chronicle has been called “one of the pre-eminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period” by Ms. Magazine. From the strip was born the now-famous “Bechdel Test,” which measures gender bias in film.
Her first graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic was named the Best Book of the Year by TIME, describing the tightly architected investigation into her closeted bisexual father’s suicide “a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other.” Fun Home was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award and was adapted into a Broadway musical that has won five Tony Awards, including “Best Musical.” Alison is also the author of Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama, which delves into her relationship with her mother, as well as the theories of the 20th century British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott. Her latest work, a profoundly affecting graphic memoir titled The Secret to Superhuman Strength, was released in 2021. The Guardian calls the memoir, “quietly astonishing” and “extraordinarily generous.”
Alison was the recipient of a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2014 she received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. In their citation the MacArthur Foundation noted that Alison “is changing our notions of the contemporary memoir and expanding the expressive potential of the graphic form.” In 2017, Alison was ushered in as Vermont’s third cartoonist laureate.
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