12:00 - 5:00
The biennial Pride in Panels: SF Queer Comics Festival is the premiere showcase of LGBTQIA+ comics creators from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The 2026 festival will feature over 125 artists exhibiting their work, including prominent creators such as Maia Kobabe, Diane DiMassa, Ed Luce, Nicole J. Georges, Ajuan Mance, Jon Macy, Blue Delliquanti and Eric Orner; as well as panel discussions, spotlight interviews with special guests and hands-on workshops.
Schedule at a glance:
Exhibition Hall – Latino/Hispanic Room, Lower Level, 12:00 p.m – 5:00 p.m.
Panel Discussions – Koret Auditorium, Lower Level, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Special Guest Rupert Kinnard – African American Center, 3rd Floor, 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.
Special Guest Lee Lai – Chinese Center, 3rd Floor, 3:00 - 4:15 p.m.
Workshops – Hormel LGBTQIA Center, 3rd Floor, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Panel Discussions – Koret Auditorium, Lower Level, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Drawing from Life: Queer Memoir Comics
Dig deep into the urges, processes, boundaries and ethics surrounding LGBTQIA+ graphic memoir. Artists accomplished in baring their souls and oversharing about their lives will discuss the importance of working in memoir in these challenging times and how the personal as political can serve a larger purpose, and tell a great story at the same time. Panelists to be announced.
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Queer Comics Pioneers
This fabulous festival of queer comics wouldn’t have been possible without the work of courageous, talented and stubborn pioneers who worked hard to carve out spaces for queer comics decades ago, and who still remain in the fight for a brighter, gayer future. A panel of groundbreaking artists will discuss what the early days of queer comics were like and where they imagine the future will lead us. Panelists to be announced.
3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Gay Elves and Non-Binary Robots: Queer Sci-fi and Fantasy
Speculative fiction has long been a playground for storytellers to poke at the boundaries and limitations of our own world. This panel brings together comic creators who use fantasy and sci-fi for explorations of queer sexualities and gender identities through everything from robots that dismantle the gender binary to magical creatures who create new family paradigms. Panelists to be announced.
4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. From BL to Bara: Queer Manga
Queerness abounds in manga, where artists from Japan and beyond create diverse stories tackling gender and sexuality. Queer manga pros will explore the worlds of Boys’ Love/yaoi, gai komi, yuri and trans manga in both doujinshi and professional manga, as well as discuss the creation of a global audience for queer manga and its influence on contemporary LGBTQIA+ culture. Panelists to be announced.
Special Guest Rupert Kinnard – African American Center, 3rd Floor, 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.
Rupert Kinnard created the first continuing queer, Black characters in comics with his groundbreaking Cathartic Comics, begun in 1977. The recipient of the 2013 World Art Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Cartoon Crossroad’s 2024 Transformative Work Award, and featured in the award-winning documentary No Straight Lines, Kinnard has been a profound inspiration for generations of cartoonists.
Rupert will be interviewed by William O. Tyler (Theater of Terror; Tannis Comix).
Special Guest Lee Lai – Chinese Center, 3rd Floor, 3:00 - 4:15 p.m.
Lee Lai is one of the rising stars of queer and trans comics. In 2021, she was selected as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 for her debut graphic novel, Stone Fruit, which went on to win several awards, including the Lambda Literary Award for Graphic Novel, the Cartoonist Studio Prize, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize and two Ignatz Awards. Her comics have appeared in the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The New York Times and the Museum of Modern Art Magazine. Her highly anticipated new graphic novel, Cannon, a powerful story featuring queer Asians in Montreal, has just hit the shelves!
Lee will be interviewed by Laura Gao (Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American; Kirby’s Lessons for Falling (in Love)).
Workshops – Hormel LGBTQIA Center, 3rd Floor, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Mini-Comics Madness!
Queer comics have a profound history of DIY production. Punk zines and mini-comics are made with photocopy machines and staplers and enable artists to get their work into the world without gatekeepers and censors. This workshop run by Sarah Maloney will show you the basics of making your own mini-comic and empower you in the same way as generations of underground artists have been before you!
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Queer Comics Workshop
Facilitated by Cloud Lai and Jasmine Liang (Queer Ancestor Project alums). Details to be announced.
Connect
Pride in Panels is co-sponsored by Silver Sprocket, California College of the Arts MFA Comics and BFA Comics programs and the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center of San Francisco Public Library.