When was the last time you watched a literary graphic novel come into being? At the launch of Skim, writer Mariko Tamaki and illustrator Jillian Tamaki will discuss the evolution of their widely celebrated book with novelist Jessica Westhead and show slides chronicling the process. Also, Emily Pohl-Weary will salute the Tamaki's remarkable accomplishment. — A This Is Not A Reading Series event presented by Pages Books & Magazines, Groundwood Books and EYE WEEKLY.

Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St W, Toronto
Wed, Mar 26; 7:30pm (doors 7pm) free

SKIM is the nickname of Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth at the centre of the eponymous graphic novel by cousins Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. Life at a private girl’s school is not easy for Skim at the best of times. When the ex-boyfriend of her classmate Kate commits suicide because he was (maybe) gay, Skim’s world is turned upside down. A grief-stricken school may not seem like fertile ground for a clandestine romance, yet that is exactly what blossoms between Skim and her neo-hippie English teacher, Mrs Archer. Sexual confusion, depression, loneliness, suicide, cliques of popular, manipulative peers—Skim provides a portrait of adolescent angst that is as psychologically blunt as it is visually beautiful.

MARIKO TAMAKI is a Toronto-based writer and performer—"a talented writer getting better and better," says Now magazine. She is the author of Cover Me, True Lies: A Book of Bad Advice, Fake ID, and Emiko Superstar, illustrated by indie comics legend Steve Rolston. Visit her portfolio at marikotamaki.com.

JILLIAN TAMAKI grew up in Alberta and currently lives and works in New York. Her illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, The Walrus, Maclean's, and The Village Voice. She has received a number of awards for her editorial illustrations, including a National Magazine Award. For a gallery of her work, visit jilliantamaki.com.

JESSICA WESTHEAD is a Toronto-based writer who has published stories in The Antigonish Review, Matrix, This Magazine, Geist, Taddle Creek, Forget Magazine, Word and Kiss Machine, and contributed to the anthology Desire, Doom and Vice: A Canadian Collection. Westhead’s first novel, Pulpy & Midge, was published in 2007 by Coach House Books.

EMILY POHL-WEARY is author of the novel A Girl Like Sugar, editor of the critically acclaimed anthology Girls Who Bite Back: Witches, Mutants, Slayers and Freaks, and co-author of the biography Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, which won a 2003 Hugo Award. Pohl-Weary publishes Kiss Machine magazine and writes the comic Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate (illustrated by Willow Dawson). She also coordinates the Parkdale Street Writers: A Boot Camp for Young Dreamers.

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