PRESS RELEASE: Nicaragua Graphic Novel (Marek Bennett)
Marek Bennett
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
: Marek Bennett URL: www.marekbennett.comEmail: ma...@marekbennett.com Phone: (603)-428-7049
NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL EXPLORES ARTS, EDUCATION, TRAVEL, AND CULTURAL
EXCHANGE
New Hampshire cartoonist draws on experiences teaching comics in
Nicaragua
Henniker, NH – Traveling from school to school in Nicaragua last winter with the Henniker-San Ram
ón Comics Exchange, teacher and cartoonist Marek Bennett took out his pen and started sketching the people and places he encountered. Now, the resulting drawings and comic strips are available as a graphic novel, NICARAGUA Comics Travel Journal, published under Bennett's "Comics Workshop" label.The book's 200+ pages of stories, interviews, conversations, and monologues (all drawn as comics) relate the experiences of the Henniker-San Ramón Comics Delegation, mixing day-to-day details with momentous discoveries, surprise encounters, and meditations on education, creativity, and social justice. Through it all, Bennett lays out the educational philosophy behind Henniker-San Ramón's innovative comics-based cultural exchange program, inviting the reader to join in his adventures as they unfold.
"I want you to feel like you're right there in the comic beside me," Bennett says, "watching it happen, talking to the people I meet, and taking part in the action." To achieve this immediate quality, Bennett drew most of the book at breakneck speed over a period of four weeks, during and immediately after the delegation in February.
NICARAGUA uses these loose comics, sketches, and diagrams to explore the people, landscapes, buildings, food, animals, and transportation Bennett encountered on his trip. One double-page spread explains the complex customs of handshakes in Nicaraguan culture; another details the architecture and contents of a rural one-room brick schoolhouse. Still more pages follow the delegation into rural classrooms, lovingly depict the Nicaraguan dog that adopted the delegation members during the trip, or explore the rich history of the region and its inhabitants.
"Just as our students use comics to document and share their communities, their lives," Bennett says, "I wanted to share my journey through this amazing community... as a living, breathing comics sketchbook."
The book will be available in October on Bennett's website, www.marekbennett.com (where readers can download a free 24-page sample PDF excerpt) and
through various comics distributors. Bennett is also doing readings this Fall to
share his work for the Henniker-San Ramón Sister Community Project, a volunteer-based solidarity project
operating between NH and Nicaragua.
When he's not on
the road in Nicaragua, Bennett conducts comics workshops and residencies for all
ages in New England. He also teaches music at the Hopkinton Independent School.
He draws the weekly comic strip Mimi's Doughnuts for newspapers in New
Hampshire and Vermont.
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More information and images (for press purposes):
Marek Bennett's website
: http://www.marekbennett.comHenniker-San Ram
ón Sister Community Project: http://hennikersanramon.blogspot.com/Online archives of Henniker-San Ram
ón Comics Exchange:http://www.marekbennett.com/comicsworkshop/comics-workshops/henniker-san-ramon-comics-exchange/
