The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture invites comic book fans of all ages to participate in its eighth annual Black Comic Book Festival.

The festival will be held on Friday, January 17 from 10 AM - 8 PM and on Saturday, January 18 from 10 AM to 8:00 PM. Registration for both days is free and is open to the public.

Each year, the Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival brings creators, illustrators, writers, and independent publishers together with thousands of collectors, blerds, and nerds for two days of programming and activities. The highly-anticipated community event includes interactive panel discussions, a vendor marketplace featuring exclusive titles by Black creators, a cosplay show, and more.

Black Comic Book Festival participants are encouraged to wear their favorite cosplay costumes and to register on-site for the annual cosplay show. Participants are also invited to contribute to the Schomburg Center’s growing collection of Black independent comic books by bringing single copies of old or new titles from their home collection. All donations will become a part of the Schomburg’s unique and growing archive documenting Black comix and the Black speculative arts movement.

Rap icon and comic book publisher Darryl “DMC” McDaniels will be a speaker at our panel discussion “Hip Hop Comics in 3D ” on Saturday, January 18 at 2:00 PM

McDaniels joins a high profile lineup, which includes graphic novelists John Jennings and Damian Duffy (Parable of the Sower), Ron Wimberley (Prince of Cats), award-winning creator and writer Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez (La Borinqueña) and award-winning artist and writer Alitha Martinez (Marvel’s Iron Man, DC Comics’ Batgirl). Scholar, poet and Marvel writer Eve L. Ewing (Ironheart, Team-Up) will also make her first appearance at the festival.

Friday, January 17, 2020 | Schomburg Center - Langston Hughes Auditorium

Program 1:

10:00 am - 11:00 am

Black Anime Unleashed presented by Black Sands Entertainment

Screening

Program 2:

11:30 am - 1:00 pm

#StrongFemaleLeads in Comics and Graphic Novels

Panelists: Eve L. Ewing, Dhonielle Clayton, Greg Burnham, Vita Ayala, Shauna Grant

Moderator: Janicia Francis, Tea with Queen and J. Podcast

Panel and Q&A

Program 3:

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Critical Race Comics

David Crownson, TJ Sterling, Robyn Smith, Jerome Walford

Moderator: Deirdre Hollman, Black Comics Collective

Panel and Q&A

Tribute

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Celebrating the Legacy of Robert Garrett and Xmoor Studios

Niya Garrett, N. Steven Harris, Eric Nocella Diaz

Moderator: Regine Sawyer

Program 4:

4:00 pm - 4:45 pm

Beyond Wakanda: Self-Published Comics and their Effect on Mainstream Media

Kwanza Osajyefo, Dedren Snead, Micheline Hess, Jamila Rowser

Moderator: Camilla Zhang

Panel and Q&A

Program 5:

5:15 pm - 6:15 pm

Epic Narratives in Comics: Sci-Fi, Afrofuturism, and Beyond

Tim Fielder, Newton Lilavois

Moderator: Erika Hardison, Fabulize Magazine

Panel and Q&A

Program 6:

6:45 pm – 8:45 pm

Page to Screen: Characters Come to Life

Che Grayson, David Walker, Steven Lowe

Moderator: Jonathan Gray

Panel and Q&A

**Shop and Sip Happy Hour**

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

**LATIMER SIGNINGS (FRI)**

1:15 – 2:30

Eve Ewing - Ironheart

Dhonielle Clayton - The Belles

Vita Ayala - Nebula, Livewire

Saturday, January 18, 2020 | Schomburg Center - Langston Hughes Auditorium

Program 7:

10:00 am - 11:00 am

MALIKA presented by Roye Okupe/YouNeek Studios

Roye Okupe

Moderator: Olu Animashaun

Screening and Talkback

Program 8:

11:00 am - 12:00 PM

Growing Up Black: Graphic Memoirs for YA

Jerry Craft, Joel Christian Gill

Moderator: John Jennings

Panel and Q&A

Program 9:

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Parable of the Adapters: Making Parable of the Sower, A graphic novel adaptation

John Jennings and Damian Duffy

Moderator: Jonathan Gray

Panel and Q&A

Program 10:

2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Hip Hop and Comics in 3D

Darryl McDaniels (DMC), Andre Leroy Davis, Dawud Anyabwile Osaze

Moderator: Chuck Creekmur, AllHipHop.com

Panel and Q&A

Program 11:

4:15 pm - 5:15 pm

The Color of Power

Ronald Wimberly, Alitha Martinez, David Walker

Moderator: Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez

Panel and Q&A

Program 12:

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Cosplay Showcase & Contest presented by BLERDCON

Queerly Femmetastic and Kanene Holder, BlackIssuesIssues

Public Presentation

**LATIMER SIGNINGS (SAT)**

11:15 am – 12:15 pm | Roye Okupe

12:15 pm – 1:30 pm Jerry Craft

1:45 pm – 2: 45 pm | John Jennings & Damian Duffy

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Jerry Craft

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm | Ronald Wimberly & Alithia Martinez

Saturday, January 19, 2019 | Countee Cullen Library

12:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Superheroes Station: Mask Making and Coloring Book Corner

All ages

Mezzanine

12:00 pm - 1:00pm

World Building

Glenn Cantave, Movers and Shakers

Teen & Adult Workshop

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Kickstarter Presents: How to write a logline

Camilla Zhang

Teen & Adult Workshop

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

How to Draw Comics

Tim Fielder

Youth Workshop (10 yrs & up)

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Kickstarter Presents: How to build a community around your work

Camilla Zhang

Teen & Adult Workshop

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm

How to Draw Fantasy Characters

Sheeba Maya

Youth Workshop (10 yrs & up)

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

How to Draw Comics

Tim Fielder

Youth Workshop (10 yrs & up)

All programs will be live streamed at Livestream.com/SchomburgCenter and on Facebook.com/SchomburgCenter.

For festival updates, follow the Schomburg Center on Twitter and Instagram @SchomburgCenter and #SchomCom2020

For questions about the Schomburg Center's eighth annual Black Comic Book Festival program, email SchomburgEd@nypl.org.

Media Instructions: Please register for media credentials here. For detailed media requests, email lisaherndon@nypl.org.

The Schomburg Center 's Black Comic Book Festival receives support from the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation.

FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED | Events are free and open to all, but due to space constraints registration is requested. We generally overbook to ensure a full house. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early.

GUESTS | Please note that holding seats in the Langston Hughes Auditorium is strictly prohibited and there is no food or drinks allowed anywhere in the Schomburg Center.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs are photographed and recorded by the Schomburg Center. Attending this event indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PHOTOGRAPHY | Please note that professional photography and video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.