FANTASY WORLDS: SURVIVAL, SPELLS & SORCERY – FICTION

BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS is a Peabody- and Eisner Award-winning comics creator, a New York Times bestselling author, and one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. He is the co-creator of Miles Morales, Iron Heart, Secret Invasion, and dozens of other characters and stories. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

CHARLES KOCHMAN is the editorial director of Abrams ComicArts and editor of the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. Kochman has edited several hundred books for all age groups, from picture books for kids to award-winning coffee table books for adults. Prior to joining Abrams, he spent 12 years at DC Comics and Mad magazine. He was also an editor at Bantam Books and Putnam Publishing. Kochman is a member of the National Cartoonists Society, the Society of Illustrators, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

NATE POWELL is the first cartoonist to win a National Book Award. His work includes the new graphic novel Fall Through; Save It For Later: Promises, Protest, and Parenthood; civil rights icon John Lewis' March trilogy and its follow-up, Run; the viral comics essay About Face; and the graphic novels Come Again, Two Dead, Any Empire, and Swallow Me Whole. He has published nonfiction comics and written for The Washington Post, The Nib, Popula, Booklist, CNN, and The Weather Channel. Powell’s work has received a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, multiple Eisner and Ignatz Awards, ALA and YALSA distinctions, the Comic-Con International Inkpot Award, and the CXC Transformative Work Award. From 1992 to 2010, he performed and toured in multiple underground punk bands, including Soophie Nun Squad and Universe, and managed the DIY label Harlan Records. Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation (New Press) is Powell’s version of the indispensable American Book Award-winning and multimillion copy bestselling book by sociologist and civil rights champion James W. Loewen.