Not A Misery Memoir @ Dragon Hall
Compelling speakers and phenomenally talented artists
Having absolutely no experience of graphic novels bar the occasional Beano and Asterix comics from when I was a kid, I was intrigued to access them in their adult form. Luckily for me, Not A Misery Memoir was a talk for both veteran comic lovers and first timers, an honest and open discussion of trauma and womanhood in the graphic novel. Our two speakers, Una and Nicola Streeton, have been friends for a long time and it shows, bouncing off one another, avoiding any awkward newly-met politeness and creating an informal and comfortable environment just right for the seriousness of their subject matter.
The discussion started with Nicola, talking about her first graphic novel Billy, Me & You on the death of her son, telling us both the story behind it and the processes that went into making it.
Una followed the discussion on her first graphic novel Becoming, Unbecoming a story of sexual violence and the Yorkshire Ripper, of patriarchy and victim blaming. There is something incredibly humbling to watch women come together to find ways of expressing and vocalising their respective trauma, while helping other women do so at the same time. The two women were able to talk both about the idiosyncrasies of their own personal experiences and the wider experiences that we, particularly as women, face. As well as this, they discussed the wider role of the graphic novel as a medium for telling these stories and engaging their readers and the creative processes that feed these novels. It was clear, that not only were they compelling speakers, but phenomenally talented artists, each with their own stylistic personality (Nicola with a background in illustrating and Una with a background in fine arts).
For me, it was an introduction into the infinitely creative world of graphic novels, which I’ll definitely be trying out myself. However, given that these are graphic novels, the only way I can really express what they’re like is to tell you to go out and buy them, I promise you that it won’t be a waste of money.
