Call for Submissions: Graphic Medicine Annual Conference, July 13-15, 2023

University of Toronto Downtown Campus, Toronto, ON, Canada

 The Graphic Medicine conference is returning to Toronto! This will be a hybrid conference, with in-person and virtual attendance options. 

The conference theme is “Graphic Medicine: Encounters and Invitations”. 

We invite the submission of a wide variety of abstracts focusing on health, illness, caregiving, and disability as they intersect with comics in any form (e.g., graphic novels and memoir, comic strips, manga, mini comics, web comics, etc.).

Presentations may explore the following questions and topics, or others you feel are relevant to the field:

• • How do you invite comics connected to health, well-being, caregiving, illness, and disability into your work?

  • How do you invite Graphic Medicine in and to educational settings?

  • How is Graphic Medicine addressing important topics, like reproductive and disability rights, health disparities and equity, dying and death, and social justice (to name a few)?

  • How might Graphic Medicine create dialogue across disciplines?

  • What is the history of Graphic Medicine? 

  • What is the future of Graphic Medicine?

  • What are the spaces of Graphic Medicine encounters? Who is not at our tables? How can we intentionally create spaces of invitation?

Presentation Formats:

• • Lightning talks: These 5-minute presentations should provide an engaging and concentrated synopsis of new, ongoing, or completed scholarly, creative, or professional work in Graphic Medicine. This format is designed with the promotion of sustained conversation in mind.

  • Oral presentations: These 15-minute presentations are largely for collaborative, interdisciplinary, or other work that requires and engages a longer presentation format. 

  • Panel discussions: These 90-minute interviews or presentations by a panel of speakers are meant to address a single topic from a variety of perspectives.

  • Workshops: These 90-minute, hands-on, activity-driven sessions are for presenters who wish to impart particular skills with regard to comics. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

    • drawing for health

    • accessing personal stories

    • comics and storytelling

    • mini-comic tutorial

Hybridity plan: Conference sessions will be available for viewing online for registered participants unable to attend in person. A select number of proposals will be accepted as prerecorded video if the presenter is unable to attend in person.  

Submission and Selection Process: Proposals should be submitted as a PDF and the abstract of the proposal should not exceed 300 words.

Please include the following information in this order:

• • Author(s)

  • Affiliation(s) (if applicable) 

  • Email address of primary contact

  • Title of proposal

  • Abstract of proposal (300 word maximum)

  • Sample images or web links to work being discussed (if applicable)

  • Presentation format preference(s) (see options above)

  • Equipment needed (e.g., AV projection, whiteboard, easel, etc.)

Proposals should be submitted by February 15, 2023 to: GMToronto23@gmail.com

We will acknowledge the receipt of all proposals. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by an interdisciplinary selection committee. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be completed by the week of March 15, 2023. While we cannot guarantee that selected presenters will receive their first choice of presentation format, we will attempt to honour preferences. 

Please note: Presenters are responsible for costs associated with their session (e.g., handouts and supplies) and personal expenses (travel, hotel, and registration fees). All presenters must register for the conference. Registration fee levels will be posted on the conference registration page in early 2023. Our intention is to make this conference logistically and financially accessible. Discounted rates and some limited scholarships will be available for students, artists, and others in need. All conference spaces will be accessible and closed captioning will be available, and additional disability accommodations will be made available on request. 

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. For more information, please visit https://indigenous.utoronto.ca/.

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About Graphic Medicine

Graphic Medicine is a site that explores the interaction between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare. We are a community of academics, health carers, authors, artists, and fans of comics and medicine. The site is maintained by an editorial team under the direction of the Graphic Medicine International Collective.