Last weekend I was in Harrogate, England for the Thought Bubble comics festival: my first time as an exhibitor and not just an attendee! It was a whirlwind of an experience, full of new friends, amazing art, triangle sandwiches, and all the emotions. To keep this post a reasonable length (and ensure it actually gets written), I’m just going to touch on two aspects of the experience today: pigeons and panels.

Drawing with other people and talking to people about drawing are two of the things that bring me joy whenever I get a chance to indulge in them and I wanted to include this aspect of my whole comics “thing” in my tabling presence somehow. To do this, I hosted a “draw-a-pigeon, take-a-pigeon” station on my small half-table where I invited interested passers-by to stop for a moment and draw a pigeon in a provided sketchbook for which they would receive a pigeon badge in exchange. Alongside the small, square sketchbook, I set out a pencil holder stuffed full of pigeon-toned supplies, including colored pencils, markers, felt-tip pens, and my favorite – a grey highlighter. I made around eighty pigeon badges in two different designs and also had a handful of purple cat badges designed by Bee on offer.

The procedure was simple: I invited people to draw and then offered them a post-drawing badge. The conversations that took place during the drawing portion were the real gift for me. In particular, I am still thinking about the number of people (well over 60%) who would pick up a pen, flip to a new page, and then ask aloud “what does a pigeon look like anyway?” It got me thinking about the invisibility of these little birds: the way we all see them on a near-daily basis but so rarely take the time to truly look at them. Some people resolved this dilemma by searching their phones for a reference photo while others flipped to previous pages to see how other people drew their pigeons. All their pigeons are utterly delightful.

Another aspect of this interaction that I enjoyed was watching the ways in which stories would start to grow across the page and between pigeon-artists as they would draw their pigeons responding to or interacting with those left by earlier artists. Often they would tell me snippets of these mini-narratives as they occurred during the act of drawing, reminding me of that magical moment in the creative process when I manage to get out of my own way and just let the story become. It was such a treat to have these conversations and I am so grateful to all the people who were willing to pause their days and draw and chat with me for a moment in the midst of a crowded convention.

The other huge (non-food-related) highlight of the event for me was the panel I had the privilege of moderating on Saturday afternoon, “Out of olde bokes”: Adapting Comics from Medieval Sources.” Panelists included Sarah Gordon, MD Penman, John Reppion, and Zara Slattery who all talked about their experiences adapting medieval texts in comic form. At this point, I’ve become fairly comfortable speaking on adaptation issues in academic contexts, but this was my first time to be able to do so with fellow creatives for a comics event and I was both excited and nervous about it. Turns out I had nothing to worry about: the panelists were brilliant and the audience questions sharp and insightful. After the panel, a significant number of people searched me out to tell me how much they enjoyed the panel and to ask follow-up questions and grab copies of The Nun’s Priest’s Tale from me; the panelists also reported similar experiences. The room itself was PACKED: the Thought Bubble crew had given me a heads-up that the room held about 200 people and looking out at the crowd from the stage, it certainly was an impressive sight.

Our conversations covered projects in different stages of creation, from the earliest research and exploration stages to a book in mid-creation now and through books that have been out for a couple years. We talked about the challenges of working with medieval texts, discussed choosing an edition or translation, thought through the importance of audience, and considered the particular anxieties that come with working with texts that bring the weight of an academic/scholarly tradition alongside them. The conversation also turned to the difficulties of working with the color green, a delightful little comics-centric digression. If you have any interest in medieval adaptation and comics, I strongly encourage you to keep an eye out for the works (both complete and in progress) of all these brilliant creators. I could have kept them chatting all day and I know I will be thinking about it for weeks to come.

In closing, a massive thank you to all the people who stopped to draw me a pigeon, the people who bought my books, the panelists for their time and thoughts, and the entire Thought Bubble crew for a beautifully organized convention that I cannot wait to return to in the future.