The APE programming room is located adjacent to the Exhibit Hall. If you’re facing the back of the hall, you will see the entrance to the programming room at the far end of the upper level on the left. Seating is limited, so be sure to arrive early for your must-see panels.	Once again APE offers an eclectic schedule of programs geared around our special guests and various aspects of independent and alternative comics. These programs promise to be informative, enlightening, and fun conversations with some of the top creative talent working in comics today. Be sure to check out these creators' books in the Exhibit Hall once you've heard them talk about their work!

APE special guests (l to r) art spiegelman, Kevin Huizenga, Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley at the "Graphic Novels Now" panel
on Sunday, April 22.

12:30-1:40 Socially Relevant Comics—Everyone knows that comics aren’t just fun for kids anymore—they’re fun for adults, too! But comics aren’t all fun and games. Their unique storytelling ability has the power to inform as well as entertain. Join 2005’s “Lulu of the Year” award-winner Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic) as she moderates a discussion with a diverse group of cartoonists about comics with social context and conscience. Keith Knight (the K Chronicles), Gene Yang (American Born Chinese), Abby Denson (Tough Love), Shannon O’Leary (Pet Noir), Mario Hernandez (Love and Rockets), and Paige Braddock (Jane’s World) will be discussing their work and comics as a mode of societal discourse.

1:45-2:25 Spotlight on Karl Christian Krumpholz— Karl Christian Krumpholz talks about Byron: Mad, Bad and Dangerous, one of the titles that launched SLG's digital publishing imprint EyeMelt.com, as well as the dangers of glamorizing evil, and his work on his mini-comics Angst Boy, Sturm und Drang, and Schadenfreude. Broken Frontier called Byron, to be collected into a print graphic novel in August, "a wry and oft times truly terrifying book." Moderated by Jennifer de Guzman, editor-in-chief of SLG Publishing.

2:30-3:30 Spotlight on art spiegelman—The legendary comix icon comes to APE for the very first time. art spiegelman won mainstream acclaim for his ground-breaking work, Maus, which won a special Pulitzer Prize. Since then, he’s been one of the comics medium’s leading artists, with serious work that deals with today’s events and issues (like 9/11, in his In The Shadow of No Towers) and not-so-serious work that shows us how fun comics can still be (the Little Lit series, co-edited with Francois Mouly). Moderated by Steve Anker, the Dean of Film/Video at CalArts and curator of Canyon Cinematheque.  

3:30-4:15 Spotlight on Francoise Mouly—APE special guest Francoise Mouly first hit the comics scene as publisher/designer/co-editor of the legendary comics anthology, RAW. Along with husband art spiegelman, Mouly took the comics world by storm with that incredible publication. She went on to become art editor of one of the world’s most prestigious magazines, The New Yorker. Francoise talks about her career, including RAW, The New Yorker and the wonderful Little Lit series she co-edits with art, in this visual presentation

4:15-4:55 Q&A with art spiegelman and Francoise Mouly— Stick around as art and Francoise appear together to answer your questions after their individual spotlights.

5:00-5:55 Spotlight on Kevin Huizenga—Starting his career in mini-comics, APE special guest Kevin Huizenga’s work has quickly garnered acclaim and three Ignatz Awards. Huizenga’s personal and evocative story-telling is enhanced by his simple and direct cartooning and he’s become an indy comics favorite with his Ganges stories published by Fantagraphics Books and the Or Else series published by Drawn and Quarterly. D&Q recently published a major collection of Huizenga’s work, titled Curses. Kevin talks about his career in comics in this spotlight panel.

6:00-6:55 The Bay Area’s Young Cartoonists:  2007 —Think the San Francisco comix scene hit its peak in the 1960s?  Think again. Join moderator Andrew Farago of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum as he interviews Renee French (The Ticking), Debbie Huey (Bumperboy), Joe Sayers (Thingpart), Jason Shiga (Meanwhile...) and Chuck Whelon (Pewfell) about their comics and the ins and outs of the Bay Area creative community.

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12:30-1:40 Graphic Novels Now—Moderator Andrew Farago (Gallery Manager of the Cartoon Art Museum) talks to APE special guests art spiegelman, Kevin Huizenga, Hope Larson, Bryan Lee O’Malley and Gene Yang in this "where they've been/where they're going" look at graphic novels. From spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning Maus to Yang’s National Book Award finalist American Born Chinese, the panel takes a look at the incredible growth of graphic novels in the past twenty years, including mainstream recognition and their growing distribution through bookstores and libraries.

1:45-2:40 Spotlight on Gene Yang— APE special guest Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese took the mainstream book world by storm late last year and became the first graphic novel to be nominated as a finalist for the prestigious National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Gene talks about his work, including his next graphic novel, Three Angels, in collaboration with cartoonist Thien Pham, due out in 2008.

2:45-3:40 Spotlight on Hope Larson— APE special guest Hope Larson is a writer/artist/publisher whose work includes the graphic novels Salamander Dream and Gray Horses. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and newspapers including the venerable New York Times. Currently working on her third graphic novel, Chiggers, to be published in 2008, Hope talks about her work, past, present and future in this spotlight panel, moderated by artist Erika Moen (Flight, vol. 1, True Porn, vol. 2).

3:45-4:40 Spotlight on Bryan Lee O’Malley— The creator of the mega-popular Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels published by Oni Press, is also an APE special guest. Bryan Lee O’Malley talks about the next installment in the six-part Pilgrim saga, which was recently optioned as a movie by Universal Pictures.

4:45-5:45 Queer Cartoonists—For the fourth installment of this popular annual panel, yet another gaggle of LGBT cartoonists gather to gab irreverently about weighty issues. Should artists be socially responsible? What's happening in the world of queer cartooning? And just how gay are comics anyway? Panelists Abby Denson (Tough Love), Andy Hartzell (Monday, Fox Bunny Funny), Robert Kirby (Boy Trouble, Curbside), Brad Rader (Harry and Dickless Tom), and Leia Weathington (Bold Riley) are joined by moderator Justin Hall (True Travel Tales, Hard To Swallow) to discuss these topics and much more.

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