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Helen McCarthy | |
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.jpg) McCarthy atAnime North 2011 | |
| Born | (1951-02-27)27 February 1951 (age 74) |
| Subject | Anime |
| Notable works | The Anime Encyclopedia |
Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of suchanimereference books as500 Manga Heroes and Villains,Anime!,The Anime Movie Guide andHayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. She is the co-author ofThe Erotic Anime Movie Guide and the exhaustiveThe Anime Encyclopedia withJonathan Clements. She also designs needlework and textile art.
McCarthy was the first English-speaking author to write a book about anime, in addition to being "the first person in the United Kingdom to run an anime programme at a convention, start a dedicated anime newsletter, and edit a dedicated anime magazine."[1]
In 1991, she foundedAnime UK magazine, and in 1992 became one of the principal contributors toSuper Play, an SNES title with a heavy anime and manga bias.[2]Anime UK becameAnime FX after a change of backer and closed at the end of 1996. Andy Frain ofManga Entertainment, then the most influential anime distributor in Britain, took issue with the magazine's editorial policy and later with its involvement in the campaign against the trademarking of the word "manga", but this did not affect either McCarthy's position or the magazine's publication. She also contributed toManga Mania magazine, and afterAnime UK closed she edited it from 1997 to 1998. She has also written on anime and manga for British magazines and newspapers including theDaily Telegraph,NEO,SFX, andImagineFX.
McCarthy was able to apply her convention-running knowledge gained in SF and mediafandom whenAnime UK ran the successful one-day conventionAUKcon, which attracted attendees from all over Europe in 1994. She has written numerous articles and essays and is a frequentconvention guest, as well as speaking at film festivals and academic gatherings in Europe, America and Japan. She has curated and delivered four successful seasons of lectures and screenings at theBarbican Cinema in London. In September 2008 she curated and presented a week-long film season and exhibition to mark the 80th anniversary of the birth ofOsamu Tezuka, also at the Barbican. The season featured London's first professional Japanesekamishibai performance.[3][4][5] Her relationship with the Barbican continues with a further anime film season,Anime's Human Machines, to be presented in September 2019 as part of theLife Rewired project.[6]
She has also been a guest speaker at theUniversity of Maryland,[7] and atAkita International University. She is a founder member of the Fandom and NeoMedia Studies Association (FANS), gave the keynote address at their inaugural conference, and spoke at their first Japanese symposium atYamanashi Gakuin in 2017.[8]
McCarthy is interested in the many crossing points and influences between anime, manga and other arts.Manga Cross-Stitch, a guide to using the visual grammar of anime and manga to create originalneedlework designs, appeared in 2009.[9] Artist Steve Kyte provided many of the designs in the book, the rest being created by McCarthy. She has since expanded her needlework activities with workshops for the Japan Foundation[10] and at conventions. Her interest in the history and artistic potential of textiles led to contributions to theFuture Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion exhibition at the Barbican, including a catalogue essay,[11] and to presentations on the history ofcosplay. She worked with choreographerSidi Larbi Cherkaoui and his team onTeZuKa at Sadler's Wells in 2011, and onPluto at the Barbican in 2017 and inEuropean City of CultureLeeuwarden in 2018.[12] Also in 2018, she presented on 2.5D Theatre at the Daiwa Japan Foundation alongside Alexandra Rutter of Whole Hog Theatre.[13]
A firm believer that artistic and creative talent can be developed and enjoyed by everyone, she has edited two how-to-draw manuals for Flame Tree Press.
Provoked by copyright infringement of her work in 2010, she has spoken and blogged about the impact ofintellectual property theft on authors, and on creators' rights to decide how, when and where their work will be published. She supports legitimate sharing throughCreative Commons.[citation needed]
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