Bestselling graphic novelist Dave Gibbons was named the first Comics Laureate of the United Kingdom on Friday at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The announcement was made by internationally acclaimed comics authority and graphic novelist Scott McCloud at the launch of new charity Comics Literacy Awareness (CLAw). Gibbons has won universal praise for his comics and graphic novel work for Marvel and DC Comics including the ground-breaking WATCHMEN (with Alan Moore), as well as the UK’s own 2000AD and Doctor Who.
"It’s a great honour for me to be nominated as the first Comics Laureate,” Gibbons said. “I intend to do all that I can to promote the acceptance of comics in schools. It’s vitally important not only for the pupils but for the industry too."
The role of Comics Laureate is to be appointed biennially to a distinguished comics writer or artist in recognition of their outstanding achievement in the field. Their role is to champion children’s literacy through school visits, training events for school staff and education conferences. Gibbons will take up his position in February 2015.
Comics Literacy Awareness is a new UK charity formed by a group of passionate, highly experienced professionals from the fields of education and comics. Its primary aim is to improve the literacy levels of children and to promote the variety and quality of comics and graphic novels today, particularly in the education sector.
Alongside the Comics Laureateship, CLAw will work closely with schools on a number of initiatives, including staff training events and classroom visits by comics professionals. They will liaise with museums and galleries on a variety of comics-related projects, and provide reading lists and general guidance to school staff and parents unfamiliar with the comics medium, demonstrating the wider educational benefits it can offer.
