MariNaomi to Publish New Graphic Memoir With 2D Cloud

April 18, 2013 - PRLog -- Sold by Gordon Warnock at Foreword Literary to Raighne Hogan and Justin Skarhus at 2D Cloud for print, enhanced e-book, and web serial, "Turning Japanese" is the follow-up to 2011’s award-winning "Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22" (Harper Perennial).

MariNaomi’s work has appeared in such publications as Eisner nominated "No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics," "I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections," "Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women," "Action Girl Comics," "The Big Feminist But," and many others. She is a regular contributor to TheRumpus.net, SFBay.CA, and Tapastic.

Mari has been exhibiting her artwork since 2002 and has done live painting performances in such venues as the De Young Museum and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She has performed many visual readings of her comics, including an international tour with Sister Spit, and has appeared on HGTV's That's Clever. She is slated to be a guest teacher at the California College of the Arts MFA in Comics program in July of 2013.

In "Turning Japanese," MariNaomi seeks the language for the first time through employment at an illegal Japanese hostess bar. Her goal is to speak directly to her grandparents in Fukuoka with no translator to edit or censor, but a stark lesson in culture and a whirlwind engagement to a young man are not at all what she expected as a young feminist.

To celebrate the publication of this memoir, MariNaomi is offering a personalized avatar drawn in the style of her Said While Talking pieces to one winner chosen at random from those who enter on Foreword Literary's website.