Canadian Comix News & Culture
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
'Maybe Next Time': GGs to Skim
:: Posted by Bryan @ 11/15/2008 05:00:00 AM 
The Globe and Mail's James Adams has done the journalistic legwork and has dug up a response to the open letter from Seth and Chester Brown to the administrators of the Governor General's Literary Awards in regards to the slight of Jillian Tamaki's contribution to the graphic novel Skim, for which her cousin Mariko Tamaki has been nominated in the Children's Literature --Text category. The open letter argued that the contribution of the artist must be considered equal to the contribution of the writer in a graphic novel --especially one as sophisticated as Skim.
The response, from a spokesperson for the Canada Council, the body that funds and administers the awards, was basically 'Maybe next time':
"We're a little bit late in the game" to either discuss the issue or make the addition, Melanie Rutledge, head of writing and publishing for the Canada Council, said Wednesday evening. But "we'll take it under consideration going forward. ... We're always wanting feedback like this."
It seems like this is a mistake on the part of the GGs since the matter basically comes down to credit where credit is due. There are simply two authors of Skim and one of them was left off of the nominations list. This is not a case of an illustrator making a substantial contribution to a text. As both of the creators have repeatedly asserted, the book was a joint effort and it is impossible to consider it as a work of art solely from the point of view as 'text' or 'illustration'. The Governor General's Awards do not have to create a new category. They simply have to acknowledge the contribution of both creators.
The winners of the awards are to be announced this coming Tuesday.
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Follow-up: Tom Spurgeon interviews some of the principles at Comics Reporter.
(above: Mariko and Jillian Tamaki by Jillian Tamaki)Labels: analysis, awards, graphic novels, skim
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