As we’ve already mentioned, this weekend (April 24 & 25) is the annual Stumptown Comics Fest, Portland’s very own showcase of creative greats in illustration from near and far. If you’re looking for something different and memorable to fill your two days off, there will be ALL kinds of colorful, dynamic, sometimes-book-sometimes-not entertainment. Here are the details:

PLACE: Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel in Portland
TIME: 10 AM to 6 PM
OUR TABLE: #30 (Come buy a brand-spankin’ new copy of the newest Kid Beowulf title Song of Roland and have it signed—and illustrated!—by its creator, Alexis E. Fajardo, who will be here all weekend.)

And if you want to jump-start the festivities, here are several events going on tonight and throughout the weekend:

• Song of Roland launch at Grendel’s Coffee House (729 E. Burnside), 5 to 6:30 PM
• Stumptown Launch Party at Guapo Comics & Books (6350 SE Foster Rd.), 7 PM
• D’Merde Salon Multi-media Event at The Know (2026 NE Alberta), 8 PM (Featuring Courtney Taylor Taylor, Hot Gun, The Moonshriners, Seantos McDonald, and more…)
• Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School at the Bossanova Ballroom’s upstairs lounge (722 E. Burnside), 8 to 11 PM
• To see more Stumptown events, click HERE

Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland has arrived! Fresh from the printer, these books will be the hottest thing on the shelf come April 28, the official release date. If you can’t wait until then, be sure to head out to Stumptown Comics Fest on April 24 and 25 in Portland (Oregon), where copies of the book will be available early. Kid Beowulf creator, Alexis E. Fajardo, will also be on hand for autographs and sketches!

Pictured: The mothers of America’s Sufferage Movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Photo by Napoleon Sarony, National Woman’s Party Records, Library of Congress (See also the Ken Burns /PBS film Not for Ourselves Alone to learn more about these amazing women…)

Did you know that all but one of Ink & Paper Group’s authors are women? What better way to acknowledge them and their achievements—as well as their gender’s lineage—than by hosting a sale this month in honor of women everywhere?

With this in mind, you can buy ANY (or ALL) of the following titles for 50% off (+ $2.50/copy for first-class shipping). Just contact linda.meyer@inkandpapergroup.com or call 503.232.0103 to order (major credit cards accepted).

BOWLER HAT COMICS

• Visibility, by Sarah Neufeld = $7.50 (reg. $15.00)

DAME ROCKET PRESS

• Give My Love to Everybody, edited by Jennifer Weaver-Neist = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• Hate Mail, by m. m. garcia = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• Magic Gardens, by Viva Las Vegas = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)

THREE MUSES PRESS

• Duet with Hummingbird, by Ana Callan = $8.98 (reg. $17.95)
• Keeper of Secrets, by Anjuelle Floyd = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• nothing but squares, by t. litwinchuk = $6.48 (reg. $12.95)

CLICK HERE for more information on Women’s History Month.

Did you know that the Pacific Northwest is home to a thriving small press community? Join Ink & Paper Group and its imprints—Bowler Hat Comics, Dame Rocket Press, and Three Muses Press—in celebrating the compelling, diverse, and newsworthy literary voices being brought to you by small presses in our neck of the woods and across the nation. Small Press Month, sponsored by the New York Center for Independent Publishing (formerly the Small Press Center) and held annually in March, raises awareness about the work of independent presses across the United States.

Want to learn more about some small presses in our area? Check out the links in the list below.
Beyond Words Publishing, Inc. (Hillsboro, OR): www.beyondword.com
Bowler Hat Comics (Portland, OR): www.bowlerhatcomics.com
Cellar Door Publishing (Portland, OR): www.cellardoorpublishing.com
CoreWay Media (Portland, OR): www.coreway.com
Dame Rocket Press (Portland, OR): www.damerocketpress.com
Dancing Moon Press (Newport, OR): www.dancingmoonpress.com
Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR): www.darkhorse.com
Eberhardt Press (Portland, OR): www.eberhardtpress.org
Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts (Portland, OR): www.hawthornebooks.com
Hot Off the Press (Canby, OR): www.b2b.hotp.com
Ink & Paper Group, LLC (Portland, OR): www.inkandpapergroup.com
Microcosm Publishing (Portland, OR): www.microcosmpublishing.com
Nestucca Spit Press (Pacific City, OR): www.nestuccaspitpress.com
New Sage Press (Troutdale, OR): www.newsagepress.com
Oni Press, Inc. (Portland, OR): www.onipress.com
Ooligan Press (Portland, OR): www.ooliganpress.pdx.edu
Pinball Publishing (Portland, OR): www.pinballpublishing.com
Ringing Bell Press (Portland, OR) www.ringingbellpress.com
So New Media (Eugene, OR): www.sonewpublishing.com
Three Muses Press (Portland, OR): www.threemusespress.com
Timber Press (Portland, OR): www.timberpress.com
Tin House (Portland, OR): www.tinhouse.com
Top Shelf Productions (Portland, OR): www.topshelfcomix.com
Virtual Tales (Vancouver, WA): www.virtualtales.com
Wordcraft of Oregon (La Grande, OR): www.wordcraftoforegon.com

Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland made its way to the printer this week! Here’s some early buzz:

With Kid Beowulf, cartoonist Alexis E. Fajardo combines a wonderful sense of whimsy and high adventure into a totally captivating and enjoyable series. Great fun for young and old readers!
~ Jeff Lemire, Essex County

This book actually made me interested in Beowulf, and even J. R. R. Tolkien couldn’t do that! With a breezy cartoon style, idiosyncratic character designs, and crystal clear storytelling, Kid Beowulf is a fine addition to any comic collection or library.
~Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules

Middle Age adventure meets all ages fun. Alexis Fajardo mixes history with folklore to create a wonderful tale.
~Frank Cammuso, Knights of the Lunch Table

Do you know that special someone who would love the adventures of Kid Beowulf or Natalie Irving for Christmas? Give the gift of books, and give the gift that keeps on giving!

For every five copies of KID BEOWULF, by Alexis E. Fajardo, and VISIBILITY, by Sarah Neufeld, sold during the month of December, Bowler Hat Comics will donate one to a school, library, or charity of our choice. ALL sales during the month of December will be tallied. The more you buy, the more we give! Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

In the past few weeks, Bowler Hat Comics has expanded our cyber presence by leaps and bounds. In addition to our website, we now have a presence on Facebook with fan pages for Bowler Hat Comics and Kid Beowulf.

In addition to Facebook, Bowler Hat is also now on Twitter; follow us if you please!

Special updates and promotions will often be announced via Facebook or Twitter before they’re announced on our site, so it’s worth subscribing if you want to stay in the know. It’s also an easy way to be notified of new posts on the Bowler Hat blog. See what your friends and others are saying about our books. Come! Join the fun!

As part of a tactical reorganization, this summer Ink & Paper Group said a fond good-bye to our house on SE 7th and set up a high-tech network of home offices. (Our phone number, website addresses, and e-mail addresses remain the same.) Our book distribution has undergone a change as well, and we are pleased that our books are now available through Partners West (wholesale) at 800.563.2385 or orders@partners-west.com.

While regrouping and temporarily redirecting our energies, Three Muses Press has postponed the release of two titles until 2010. Bowler Hat Comics adjusted the release date for Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland—now Spring 2010—and we are thrilled by the early response to galleys for this, the second book in the Kid Beowulf graphic novel series. (Watch the Bowler Hat site for an announcement regarding the all-ages Kid Beowulf series). Dame Rocket Press has been the focus of our attention this summer, with the release of Give My Love to Everybody: Letters from a World War II Soldier and Magic Gardens: The Memoirs of Viva Las Vegas, each of which is exceeding our expectations.

As with books, revision can tighten and energize a company. We are both excited and optimistic about Ink & Paper Group’s future, and we hope you will enjoy the changes we have in store. More soon…

Onward!

Bowler Hat’s Fall ’09 internship will see an emphasis on website development. Interns will leave their mark on the Bowler Hat website and lay the foundation for future online publishing. This particular internship has the potential to continue through the Winter ’10 term if the intern can demonstrate capability and dedication to the tasks at hand and a desire to continue. If interested, please send a cover letter to Bo Johnson.

Interns will be responsible for:

• term project – determined based on the current needs of Bowler Hat and skill set of the intern. The ’09 Fall Internship will focus on the development of our website with an eye toward online publishing.
• generating weekly content for the website in the form of:
  • timely news (1 article per week)
  • book reviews (1 review per week)
• general publishing assistance – various tasks on an as needed basis, but most often marketing centric

Ideal interns will have:

• an interest in comics and young adult lit
• familiarity with HTML and Wordpress
• interest in online publishing
• access to their own equipment, software (Word is a must, Adobe Creative Suite is a bonus), and reliable internet service

Interns can expect to work 10–12 hours per week over the course of three months. Most work will be done from home. A minimum of biweekly meetings will be held at locations to be determined. The position is unpaid.

Bowler Hat internships roughly follow Portland State University’s quarter schedule. Upcoming Internship Schedule (actual start and end dates are flexible):

’09 Fall, Oct–Dec
’10 Winter, Jan–Mar
’10 Spring, Apr–June
’10 Summer, July–Sept

*Bowler Hat is also interested in exploring long-term internships attached directly to specific titles, overseeing all aspects of the books development from acquisition to publication to post-pub marketing. If this type of internship interests you, please contact us, but please be aware that we will be looking for a very strong skill set for these internships.

Crazy economy. Spring fever. Feeling up, down, or a little bit sideways?

Publishers, editors, designers, artists, videographers, marketers, writers, and a stray cat or two… We need to get together and talk about business, life, and maybe a bit about how we can help each other through these tough times. No big agenda. No presentation.

This is an open house event brought to you by Ink & Paper Group and our friends at PubWest. Join us for a few cool ones, snack on some delicious Mexican food (hey, Cinco de Mayo is only a few days away), and reconnect with friends and colleagues. Or make some new connections.

Watch your e-mailbox for an evite. We hope to see you May 1st! We’ll save a seat on the veranda for you. Really.

Sign up for this event on Ink & Paper’s Classes page or pay at the door. Five bucks!

Date: Friday, May 1, 2009

Time: 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Location: Ink & Paper Group

1825 SE 7th Avenue, Portland OR 97214

Event fee: $5 includes refreshments and smart talk