Talks

I give talks and illustrated presentations on a wide range of topics. I’ve spoken in venues ranging from St. Magnus the Martyr Church in the City of London to the Japan Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from Akita International University in Japan to the Filmhuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, Occasionally, I also talk on radio and TV.

You can see and hear me online: my 2011 lecture at the University of Maryland on Hayao Miyazaki is on video here. You can hear me on air on BBC Radio here and here, and with fellow anime critics at Anime World Order here and A3K here. Here’s the Manga Out Loud podcast on Princess Knight, with me talking to host Ed Sizemore & Frederik L. Schodt.

Check out the feedback from St. Paul’s School and from Pimlico Library. If you’d like to read an extract from one of my talks (on Naruto & the Hero’s Journey) click the link.

These are a few of the topics I’ve talked about recently:

Animation and comics

• Chinese Animation
• Early Anime
• The Expats and the Gap Year Kid: How an Englishman, a Frenchman and an Aussie Helped to Create Japan’s Manga Industry
• Gay Manga: A Short History
• Manga, Anime and Merchandising
• The Many Faces of Astro Boy 1951-2010
• The Many Languages of Manga & Anime
• Music in Manga
• Osamu Tezuka: Life and Work

Art and Creativity

• Development of Kawaii Imagery Around the World
• Enabling Participation in Creative Activity
• Haiku Kamishibai

Costume and Needlework

• City Clothes: What London Wore in the Time of Henry Yeveley
• A History of Japanese Costume
• Manga Cross-Stitch
• A Short and Highly Selective History of Cosplay