A library in B.C. is colouring outside the lines with its writer-in-residence program and showing people that literature can be more than words on a page.

Cartoonist Miriam Libicki is the Vancouver Public Library鈥檚 writer-in-residence for 2017, marking the first time the library has named a graphic novelist to the role since the program began in 2005.

Comics have captivated Libicki since childhood, but she didn鈥檛 think she could create them herself until after she left the Israeli army and went to art school in Vancouver.

There, Libicki struggled to explain the intense experience to others until she turned a diary entry into a comic.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to, just through text descriptions, really immerse somebody,鈥� Libicki said. 鈥漃ictures, it鈥檚 much more immediate to immerse somebody in an environment that鈥檚 just in your head.鈥�

The response to her work was positive, so the budding artist turned her army experiences into a graphic novel called 鈥淛obnik!鈥� which she self-published in 2008.

Libicki鈥檚 work mixes intricate sketches and watercolour paintings, a marked difference from the simple images in comics like Superman. Her subjects, too, delve deeper than Archie and Veronica鈥檚 latest tiff, reflecting instead on Jewish identity and examining relationships.

鈥淚 write what I like to write and I paint what I like to paint,鈥� she said of her style.

I also had this vision of blowfish inflating and rolling through space, but I'm not sure I got it. I may redraw.

鈥� miriam libicki (@realgonegirl)

Vancouver鈥檚 library isn鈥檛 the first to turn to someone with a unique specialty as a writer-in-residence. The Edmonton Public Library picked rapper AOK 鈥� writer Omar Mouallem 鈥� for the role in 2013, while Concordia University chose graphic novelist Matthew Forsythe to be the 2017 Mordecai Richler writer-in-residence.

Picking someone from a non-traditional medium shows that stories can be created and shared in a variety of ways, said Dawn Ibey, director of library experience with the Vancouver Public Library.

Libraries have changed as societies have changed, she said, and many now offer an array of items and services, from ebooks to recording booths, and three-dimensional printers to musical instruments.

But some traditional aspects remain.

鈥淭he end point is still the same,鈥� Ibey said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still inviting people to be engaged, informed, to create and share information, ideas and stories.鈥�

The Vancouver library is 鈥渇ormat agnostic,鈥� she added, and sees graphic novels as a way to engage a broader audience.

鈥淎 graphic novel can have an entry point for kids or teens or adults from very diverse backgrounds, different learning styles, reluctant readers, anyone who a more traditional means or a piece written for a specific demographic or age group might not reach,鈥� Ibey said.

Portrait I drew of from a photo but not traced, 1997. You know, I used to be pretty good at drawing.

鈥� miriam libicki (@realgonegirl)

Graphic novels have gained prominence in recent years, including Art Spiegelman鈥檚 鈥淢aus,鈥� which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, and 鈥淭he Walking Dead,鈥� which was adapted into a hit TV show.

Part of the reason the form is so popular is that it can be used in a variety of ways, Libicki said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a medium, not a genre,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t just means words and pictures put together in any sort of way. Any sort of story can be told with it.鈥�

That鈥檚 a message she鈥檚 looking forward to sharing as a writer-in-residence.

For the next four months, she will mentor other writers and work on her latest project, a graphic novel about what happened to people who fled the collapsing Soviet Union. Libicki said she鈥檚 spent two years conducting interviews, researching and writing a script for the story.

She鈥檒l also lead workshops for both children and adults on everything from water colour painting to conducting interviews.

鈥淚鈥檓 really excited about the idea that we can bring graphic novels to so many different populations, both as appreciation and reading them, and getting people making their own,鈥� Libicki said.

鈥淚鈥檇 just really like to see more people cartooning.鈥�

The Canadian Press

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