Biography
Nicola Streeten (also using the name Nicola Plowman) is an anthropologist-turned-illustrator and comics scholar. Her graphic memoir, Billy, Me & You, (2011, Myriad Editions) is the first long-form graphic memoir by a British woman to have been published. It received a British Medical Association Award in 2012. Her PhD research documented a cultural history of feminist cartoons and comics in Britain 1970-2010, with a particular focus on the role of humour. Her research informed her co-editing of The Inking Woman, (2018, Myriad Editions), a picture-led history of 250 years of women's cartooning in Britain.
Role
2018
- Research Associate affiliated with the School of Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex
- Awarded International Artists' Deveopment Fund (Arts Council England and British Council) for "Expectations" a collaborative project working with artists in India.
- Treasurer of Laydeez do Comics in receipt of Arts Council England Funding to launch first women-only prize for graphic novels in progress at a one-day festival in London.
- Lecturer in contextual studies at LCC, University of the Arts, London and Kingston University. Lecturing on the Creative Life Writing Programme, Brighton.
2017
- PhD awarded
- Associate tutor in Media, Film and Music
- Committee member of the British Consortium of Comics Scholars symposium 2015, University of Sussex
2016
- Doctoral researcher in gender studies in Media, Film and Music
- Associate tutor in Media, Film and Music
- Committee member of the British Consortium of Comics Scholars symposium 2015, University of Sussex
2015
- Doctoral researcher in gender studies in Media, Film and Music
- Associate tutor in Media, Film and Music
- Chair of organising committee for the British Consortium of Comics Scholars symposium 2015, University of Sussex
- Co-ordinator of Feminist Cultures, the Sussex Cultural Studies Centre feminist reading group, University of Sussex https://feministcultures.wordpress.com
- Organising committee member of postgraduate led Research in Progress seminars Doctoral Day Symposium in the School of Media, Film and Music, University of Sussex https://mfmphds.wordpress.com
2014
- Doctoral researcher in gender studies in Media, Film and Music
- Associate tutor in Media, Film and Music
- Communications officer for Excursions, a peer reviewed, on-line, inter-disciplinary journal, showcasing innovative and high-quality postgraduate research, run by doctoral researchers at the University of Sussex. The next issues will be Boundaries, Vol. 5 No. 1 http://www.excursions-journal.org.uk/
- Committee member of NGender organising research events in gender and sexuality research http://ngender.wordpress.com/
- Organising committee member for the SCCS New Racisms 2014 conference on 9 May 2014
Qualifications
Current PhD Gender Studies in Media, Film & Music, University of Sussex. (Funded AHRC)
2014 Starting to Teach Module, University of Sussex
2007-2012 MRes Art, Architecture, and Design (Distinction), University of Lincoln.
Activities
Co-director of Laydeez do comics, the first women led graphic novel salon www.laydeezdocomics.com
Regular manuscript reviewer for Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
Publications / Awards / Conference Papers
Selected Publications/Exhibitions
Forthcoming: March 2018 The Inking Woman co-edited by Nicola Streeten and Cath Tate (Myriad Editions)
April 2017 "Drawn from History" The Times Literary Supplement (26 April) Available: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/comics-drawn-from-history/
April-July 2017 Inclusion of artwork from Billy, Me & You in the exhibition:The Inking Woman The Cartoon Museum, London
July 2016 Commissioned by Migrating Out of Poverty. Research Programme Consortium to produce a comic in response to research report Available: http://migratingoutofpoverty.dfid.gov.uk/publications/multimedia
April-July 2016 Inclusion of artwork from Billy, Me & You in the exhibition: The Great British Graphic Novel The Cartoon Museum, London
Feb-May 2016 Inclusion of artwork from Billy, Me & You in the exhibition: Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics House of Illustration, London
March 2015 Female Thor knocks out anti-feministvillain – but this isn’t the coup it seems The Conversation, March 2, 2015. Available online: https://theconversation.com/female-thor-knocks-out-anti-feminist-villain-but-this-isnt-the-coup-it-seems-38064
December 2014 Book review for British Medical Journal, Medical Humanities. Available online: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2014/12/11/the-reading-room-a-review-of-matilda-tristrams-probably-nothing/
January 2014 Publication of artwork in Bad Girls Atrium, Issue 12, Winter 2014
Oct 2011 Publication of first graphic novel, Billy, Me & You, (Myriad Editions)
Awards
July 2016 Receipt of research support grant from School of Media, Film & Music, University of Sussex to present a paper at Graphic Medicine 2016 Conference: Stages & Pages, Dundee
June 2016 Receipt of Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) research training support grant topresent a paper at Women and Comics Conference, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, laboratoire CORPUS, Amiens, France
January 2016 Receipt of Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) research training support grant to present a paper at Comedy on Stage and Page: satirical cartoons & stand-up University of Kent, Canterbury
November 2015 Receipt of research support grant from School of Media, Film & Music, University of Sussex to present a paper at Comics Forum 2015: Comics and Politics
July 2015 Shortlisted for the British Federation of Women Graduates Award, 2015
June 2015 Receipt of research support grant from Media, Film & Music department, University of Sussex to present a paper at Voyages:Sixth International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference, University of London Institute in Paris
January 2015 Receipt of Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) research training support grant to attend The International Festival of Comics, Angouleme, France, 2015
December 2014 Receipt of Research Led Initiative grant to run the inaugural British Consortium of Comics Scholars (BCCS) Symposium and Comics Tea Party in association with the Sussex Centre of Cultural Studies (SCCS)
November 2014 Receipt of research support grant from Media, Film & Music department, University of Sussex to present a paper at Violence: A conference on Comics, Comics Forum 2014, Leeds and Participate in a panel discussion,
Diversity in comics at Thought Bubble Convention, Leeds
July 2014 Receipt of research support grant from Media, Film & Music department, University of Sussex to present a paper at The 4th International Graphic Novel and Comics conference at The British Library, London
June 2014 Receipt of Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Research Training Support Grant to present a paper at Comics & Medicine: From Private Lives to Public Health, John Hopkins Medical Campus in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
September 2013 Receipt of Arts & Humanities Research Council award to fund PhD research
September 2012 Receipt of Highly commended in the British Medical Association Book Awards, 2012 in the Popular Medicine category for Billy, Me & You (2011) Brighton: Myriad Editions
Mar 2012 Receipt of Arts Council England award to research and develop my second graphic novel
Feb 2011 Prize awarded for best presentation at the annual postgraduate conference at University of Lincoln
Selected Conference Papers / Presentations
June 2017 Delivery of keynote address 'Documenting Trauma: Comics and the Politics of Memory’A Symposium hosted by the TORCH Network, ‘Comics and Graphic Novels: The Politics of Form’ Oxford University
Jan 2017 Questioning Sexism in Comics: Practice and Research: France; Finland; UK; USA. Study Day. Hosted by École européenne supérieure de l’image (ÉESI) in association withThe British Consortium of Comics Scholars (BCCS) and International Girl Gang: Laydeez do Comics (LDC) UK; FEMSKT Finland; Ladies Night Anthology (LNA) USA; Comic Book Slumber Party UK. Angoulême, France
July 2016 conference paper presented at 7th International Comics & Medicine Conference: Stages & Pages 7th July-9th July 2016 Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee, Scotland
June 2016 Conference paper presented at Women and comics, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, laboratoire CORPUS, Amiens, France
Jan 2016 Conference paper presented at Comedy on Stage and Page: satirical cartoons & stand-up conference, University of Kent, Canterbury
Nov 2015 Conference paper presented at Comics Forum 2015 Comics and Politics conference, Leeds
June 2015 Conference paper presented at the 6th International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference at the University of London Institute in Paris: I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night (Sylvia Plath)
May 2015 Panel discussion at British Consortium of Comics Scholars, BCCS Comics Day and Tea Party: British comics in relation to the international platform: A report from Angoulême International Comics Festival
May 2015 Conference paper presented at the second Ngender conference, University of Sussex: What is a “feminist Comic”?
July 2014 Conference paper presented at The 5th International Graphic Novel and Comics conference at The British Library, London.
June 2014 Conference paper presented at Comics & Medicine: From Private Lives to Public Health, John Hopkins Medical Campus in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
June 2014 Conference paper presented at the annual doctoral Media, Film and Music conference, University of Sussex
June 2014 Conference paper presented at Ngender Conference, University of Sussex
July 2013 Delivery of keynote address. Ethics Under Cover: Comics, Medicine and Society 4th International Conference on Comics and Medicine, Brighton & Sussex Medical School.
June 2013 Conference paper presented at The 4th International Graphic Novel/IBDS conference, Glasgow and Dundee
August 2012 Conference paper presented with Sarah Lightman, Interrogating Trauma in the Humanities, University of Lincoln
July 2012 Presentation and panel discussion, Comics & Medicine: Navigating the Margin, The University of Toronto, Canada
June 2012 Conference paper presented with Dr Elisabeth El Refaie, The 3rd International Comics Conference: Comics Rock, Bournemouth University
May 2012 Keynote speakerComic(s) Bodies a multidisciplinary symposium, Nottingham Contemporary
April 2012 Presentation and Panelcontributor, Graphic Medicine at Work, Ethics in Performance Series, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Mar 2012 Presentation Fresh Forms of Art From Old Memories, Editorial Intelligence Names Not Numbers annual symposium, Port Meirion, N Wales
Jan 2012 LIFE WRITING Panel Discussion on the use of autobiography and memoir at First Fictions Festival, University of Sussex in association with Myriad Editions
Nov 2011 Conference paper presented at Visualising the Stigma of Illness, Graphic Medicine, Leeds, Comic Forum
Nov 2010 Conference paper presented at Transitions I, a one-day postgraduate conference at Birkbeck College, University of London
Oct 2010 Conference paper presented at Women in Comics II, Leeds, Comic Forum
Oct 2009 Conference paper presented at Women in Comics I, Newhall, Cambridge