Events

I Thought You Loved Me Book Tour dates

Upcoming/Current Events

August 12 to November 10, 2024

Art Exhibit: Long-Distance Relationship: Asian American Comics Artists and the Complexities of Connecting

Artists: Eddie Ahn, Rina Ayuyang, Tessa Hulls, MariNaomi, and Thien Pham

Long Distance Relationship presents five graphic novel and memoir creators working in a range of styles and techniques to explore their deeply personal and complicated relationships with history, culture, family, and community. As part of the Asian American diaspora, these artists share similar experiences of fissure between the past and present that are both unique and universal.

Curated by Glori Simmons and Jenifer Wofford

Opening reception August 22, 2024, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 

University of San Francisco, Thacher Gallery, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA 94117

August 24 to September 8, 2024

Art Exhibit: Dino Show: A Prehistory Themed Exhibition

Group art show featuring MariNaomi’s embroidery “Teacup Dinosaur”

Giant Robot Store, 2015 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

September 1, 2024

San Francisco Zine Fest

Signing at the Fieldmouse Press table, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

City View at Metreon, San Francisco, CA

October 14, 2024

Imaike Library Club reading and presentation

 Details TK (limited to 15 attendees)

Imaike Library Club, 14-13 Chikusa Ward, Honen-cho, Nagoya, Japan, 464-0076

October 30, 2024

FabCafe Tokyo, 1-22-7 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Dogenzaka Pier 1F, Japan

November 6, 2024

UCSD visit

Details TK

UC San Diego, San Diego, CA

November 7, 2024

Chaffey College visit

Details TK

Chaffey College, CA

Past Events

August 3 to 18, 2024

Art Exhibit: Creatures of Flight Show

Group art show featuring MariNaomi’s mixed-media collage, “Smooth-Billed Ani in a Tropical Storm”

Giant Robot Store, 2015 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

July 30, 2024

VanCaf Q&A

Virtual class visit

VanCaf Vancouver, BC, Canada

July 13 to 28, 2024

Art Exhibit: Plants & Flowers Show

Group art show featuring MariNaomi’s mixed-media collages, “Bee Chill” and “Gingko”

Giant Robot Store, 2015 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

June 22 to July 7, 2024

Art Exhibit: Fruits and Veggies Show

Group art show featuring MariNaomi’s mixed-media collage, “Charmed, I’m sure”

Giant Robot Store, 2015 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

June 16, 2024

Giant Robot Pride Livestream

Interview with MariNaomi and other Giant Robot artists (click above link to see the interview)

Giant Robot Store, 2015 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

May 29 to June 1, 2024

Art Exhibit: Small World Show

Group art show featuring MariNaomi’s mixed-media collage, “Capybara Onsen”

Giant Robot Store, 2015 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

April 13 to 28, 2024

Art Exhibit: Land and Sea Show

Group art show featuring MariNaomi’s mixed-media collage, “Sea of Love”

Giant Robot Store 2015 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025

March 2 to 17, 2024

Art Exhibit: Doggo Show

Group art show featuring MariNaomi’s mixed-media collage, “Daikon Doggos”

Giant Robot Store 2015 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025

March 3 to 16, 2024

JoCo Cruise

 MariNaomi was a featured guest and performer on JoCo Cruise, where they performed a reading, spoke on a panel with John Hodgman and Mara Wilson (moderated by John Scalzi), and performed some very bad karaoke onstage with folks who actually knew how to sing.

 

February 18, 2024

SF Queer Comics Festival

“Graphic Content” panel moderated by Justin Hall

 

SF Public Library

October 7, 2023

Litquake

“Right to Read” Banned Book Panel

With Jasmine Stirling, Sarah and Ian Hoffman

 

SF Public Library

September 17, 2023

Book Passage reading with Julia Wertz

Julia and Mari read from their respective books: Impossible People and I Thought You Loved Me.

 

Book Passage Bookstore & Cafe The Marketplace 51 Tamal Vista Blvd. Corte Madera, CA 94925

September 9-10, 2023

Small Press Expo featured guest

Saturday, Sept. 9, 4pm to 5pm – White Oak Room
Panel with Justin Hall and Rob Kirby

Sunday, Sept. 1, 1:30pm to 2:30pm – White Oak Room
Panel: “Sub-genres of Memoir” with Paul Gravett, Eddy Campbell, Kayla Greet, and Beth Trembley

 

Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, Rockville, MD

September 8, 2023

People’s Book with Keith Knight

7 p.m. Author’s talk with celebrated cartoonist Keith Knight. Free, in-person event. RSVP here.

 

People's Book 7014 Westmoreland Ave., Suite A, Takoma Park, MD 

September 3, 2023

San Francisco Zine Fest

MariNaomi signed books at the Fieldmouse Press table from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

 

San Francisco, CA

August 10, 2023

You Are Going to Die Presents: Death of a Relationship

An open mic event, the communal offering for us to creatively explore our relationship losses — the death of friendships, partnerships, familial estrangements, ghosting, missing persons — to grieve, bereave, berate, or honor who we’ve lost and might have loved…to MAYBE find some healing and at least remember we’re not alone.

Hosted by Ned Buskirk and featuring MariNaomi 

The Lost Church - San Francisco 988 Columbus Ave. San Francisco, CA 94133

August 6, 2023

Henderson’s Writer’s Group

Dime Grinds author meet and greet.

 

Virtual event

July 29, 2023

6th Annual Comics Studies Society Conference

MariNaomi was a keynote speaker. 

 

UNT Gateway Center, Denton, TX

June 21, 2023

SF Pride Panel

A Pride panel featuring Laura Gao, MariNaomi, and Baruch Porras-Hernandez, moderated by Paula Farmer. 

 

Book Passage, Ferry Building, Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA

June 17, 2023

Queer Comics Expo

Banned Books Panel featuring MariNaomi, AJ Sass, and Katryn Bury

 

San Lorenzo Library, San Lorenzo, CA

June 3-4, 2023

Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) special guest

Let’s Get Mushy! Romance Comics Explored panel
A discussion exploring different perspectives on romance comics, featuring Molly Mendoza  (The Worst), MariNaomi (I Thought You Loved Me), and Grace Allison Perkins (Tender Stories). 

Broadway Armory, 5917 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL (right off the Thorndale Red Line Stop)

May 26, 2023

 

Libelula Books – San Diego Book Launch

 6 p.m. MariNaomi performed a visual reading and talk a bit about their book, followed by Q&A and a signing.

Libelula Books, Barrio Logan, San Diego, CA

May 12, 2023

 

Litquake’s The Epicenter: MariNaomi with Grace Loh Prasad

Litquake’s Epicenter featured MariNaomi’s graphic memoir, I Thought You Loved Me, a multimedia exploration of the expectations of friendship, the unreliability of memory, and the struggle to let go.
I Thought You Loved Me sifts through a meditative ghost story of sorts, taking the form of a scrapbook-esque investigation into why a close friendship from the cartoonist’s youth abruptly ended. Mari and Jodie meet in high school in the 80’s. Both are bisexual outsiders, and each troubled in their own way. A 14-year friendship follows. Boyfriends come and go. When Jodie ghosts Mari in 2001, Mari is haunted. Years later, they search social media and their own journals for clues. Though some questions are answered, Mari is equally mystified by their own youthful insecurities and relationships. All this is told through a captivating collage of cartoons, photos, and text, resulting in an all too human portrait of a relationship.
Grace Loh Prasad was born in Taiwan and raised in New Jersey and Hong Kong before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area. Grace received her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College and is an alumna of Tin House and VONA. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Longreads, The Offing, Artsy, Hyperallergic, Catapult, Jellyfish Review, KHÔRA, and elsewhere. Grace is a member of The Writers Grotto and Seventeen Syllables, an AAPI writers collective. Her memoir manuscript is entitled The Translator’s Daughter.
Hotel Emblem, 562 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA

April 3-4, 2023

 

Rhode Island School of Design

Schoolwide lecture on April 3, 6:30 pm. Class visits on April 3 and 4.

Rhode Island School of Design, 20 Washington Place, Providence, RI

April 2, 2023

 

Riffraff Bookstore – Providence Book Launch

Riffraff Bookstore and Bar, 60 Valley St. #107A, Providence, RI

March 30, 2023

 

Bigger Boat Visiting Writers’ Series – An Evening with MariNaomi

6:30 p.m. MariNaomi read from their book I Thought You Loved Me, and spoke with Michael Fournier about the book, followed by a Q&A. 

Cape Cod Community College, Larusso Solarium, West Barnstable, MA

March 29 to July 23, 2023

 

Pegasus Shattuck – SF East Bay Book Launch

7 p.m.: Double book launch and visual reading. MariNaomi (I Thought You Loved Me) and Tessa Brunton (Notes from a Sick Bed) read from their respective graphic memoirs and were conversation about their work.

Plaza de Cibeles, 1, 28014 Madrid, Spain

March 23, 2023

 

Pegasus Shattuck – SF East Bay Book Launch

7 p.m.: It’s a double feature! Please join us for this exciting double book launch and visual reading. MariNaomi (I Thought You Loved Me) and Tessa Brunton (Notes from a Sick Bed) will read from their respective graphic memoirs and be in conversation about their work.

Pegasus Shattuck, 2349 Shattuck Ave.,  Berkeley, CA

March 11, 2023

 

Fantagraphics Bookstore – Seattle Book Launch

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Book launch conversation with Megan Kelso, and reception for a Mutha art show curated by Meg Lemke.

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, 1201 South Vale St. (at Airport Way S.), Seattle, WA

March 10, 2023

 

Timberland Regional Library – An Evening with MariNaomi

Olympia book launch of MariNaomi’s newest graphic memoir, I Thought You Loved Me, a collage-comics memoir about queer friendship and the unreliability of memory. The evening consisted of a reading with visuals by MariNaomi, followed by a moderated conversation with the author and Frank Hussey of Danger Room Comics, and then a short Q&A and book signing. 

Seattle Convention Center Summit Bldg. Level 3 Rooms 333-334 Seattle, WA

March 8, 2023

 

Silver Sprocket – San Francisco Book Launch with Rob Kirby

7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Book launch for MariNaomi’s I Thought You Loved Me and Rob Kirby’s Marry Me a Little. Mari and their comics hero and friend Rob were in conversation about their queer graphic memoirs.

Olympia Public Library, Olympia, WA

March 4, 2023

Silver Sprocket – San Francisco Book Launch with Rob Kirby

7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Book launch for MariNaomi’s I Thought You Loved Me and Rob Kirby’s Marry Me a Little. Mari and their comics hero and friend Rob will be in conversation about their queer graphic memoirs.

Silver Sprocket, 1018 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA

February 26, 2023

Skylight Books – Los Angeles Book Launch with Megan Kelso

5 p.m.:  Book launch for MariNaomi’s I Thought You Loved Me and Megan Kelso’s Who Will Make the Pancakes?

Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA

February 10-11, 2023

University of Iowa Mellon Sawyer Racial Reckoning in Comics

Friday, Feb. 10, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.: MariNaomi “How to Become an Overnight Success in Twenty Years” introduced by Rachel Williams
4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.: MariNaomi and Joe Sacco signing at Prairie Lights Bookstore

Saturday, Feb. 11, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Panel discussion: Joe Sacco and MariNaomi moderated by Esther Claudio.

 

Iowa City Public Library, 123 South Linn St., Iowa City, IA

February 8, 2023

San Francisco State University Comics Studies Panel

Education and banned comics panel, featuring comics authors Joel Christian Gill, Maia Kobabe, and MariNaomi, and Joe Schmidt of the NYC Department of Education.

 

Watch the video.

January 19-March 24, 2023

Comics is a Medium, Not a Genre

Group art exhibition curated by Joel Christian Gill. Read about it here.

Boston University, Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA

December 1, 2022 to February 17, 2023

Art in the Panel

Exhibiting artists: Dustin Garcia, Joan Reilly, Jules Rivera, and MariNaomi

Artopia Gallery Creative World Art Center 524 S. 1st Ave. Arcadia, CA