For specific questions about the online mentoring scheme, contact Emma at emmaburleigh1977@yahoo.co.uk

LDC is the largest women-led comics forum for all. Launched in  2009 by  Nicola Streeten and Sarah Lightman the focus is on comics work based on life narrative and the drama of the everyday. The organisation is voluntary with a committee of 6 creators.

LDC now has a worldwide presence with meetings held in Czech Republic, with pop ups in Delhi, Bangalore and New York, as well as closer to home in Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Dundee, Manchester with Nottingham, Portsmouth and Southampton branches launching in 2019.  Artists, academics, publishers and fans from around the world are invited to speak at LDC. The evenings are a platform for people to test new works and ideas, where emerging artists present their work alongside more established practitioners, in an inspiring and friendly atmosphere. Everyone is welcome, including those with no knowledge of comics and those already immersed. 

LDC is a voluntary unincorated organisation. In 2018 with support from Arts Council England and crowdfunding, LDC launched the first women-only prize for graphic novels in progress. LDC activity is now expanding to offer professional development focused activity.

LDC London meetings are currently run by Rachael Ball, Wallis Eates and Nicola Streeten
Visit the website to find out about other events and sign up to our newsletter (via the website) to receive monthly news of opportunities and events.

LONDON ORGANISERS

Dr Nicola Streeten is speaker and writer about and teacher and drawer of comics. Author of Billy, Me & You (Myriad Editions, 2011) the first long-form graphic memoir by a British woman to be published. Nicola co-founded the international forum Laydeez do Comics in 2009 which in 2018 launched the first women’s prize for graphic novels, UK. Her PhD from the University of Sussex will be published in 2020 as UK Feminist Cartoons and Comics: A Critical Review (Palgrave Macmillan) as complement to  The Inking Woman (Myriad Editions, 2018) a picture-led celebration of the work of over 100 named British women artists spanning 250 years, which she co-edited. www.streetenillustration.com

Rachael Ball
Her first graphic novel  'The Inflatable Woman' published by Bloomsbury 2015  was listed as one of the Guardian's Best Graphic Novels for 2015 and one of Paul Gravett's Top 10. “Read it. Inspiring. Poignant. Wonderfully unconventional” –  Sunday Telegraph. Her work has also  appeared in the cult comic Deadline and The Graphic Canon of Childrens Literature. Her work can be seen at the House of IIlustration's Comixatrix exhibition and at the Cartoon Museum's Great British Graphic Novel exhibition.

Her second graphic novel 'Wolf' was published in October 2018 by SelfMadeHero and is already receiving great reviews.

She also teaches masterclasss and workshops at the House of illustration on how to write and develop your own graphic novels.

See examples of her work at http://rachaelball.tumblr.com/

Wallis Eates was shortlisted for the Myriad Editions First Graphic Novel award in 2014 for her graphic memoir, ‘Mumoirs’. Since then she has worked with brain injury survivors, prisoners, amateur boxers and adults with dementia to collaborate on stories through graphic narrative format. 'Wings' is a collaboration with Dr. Victoria Anderson and the men of HMP Wandsworth which was funded after a successful Kickstarter campaign and is due out this year, while she continues to work on ‘Like an Orange’ which is crowdfunding through publishers Unbound Books - a graphic narrative inspired by her residency with the charity Headway who help to rehabilitate brain injury survivors. You can support this project by going to www.unbound.com/books/like-an-orange

To find out more about LDC and to hear podcasts and read the blogs of previous meetings, please see our website.

Leeds and Manchester organiser: Lou Crosby http://seeingpoetry.co.uk

Birmingham organiser: Charlotte Bailey https://charlottewithink.com

Bristol Organisers:

Emma Burleigh - www.emmaburleigh.com and Camille Aubry - www.camilleaubry.com/