Cartoonist Derf to receive Lit Lifetime Award

	Cartoonist John "Derf" Backderf will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Lit, Cleveland's literary society.

My friend Dahme

Trashed

The presentation will occur at the biennial Lantern Awards, All Lit Up: An Evening of Literary Excellence presented by the Lit, at the Palace Theater on Sept. 11, 2010.

http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2010/08/the_lit_announces_lantern_awar.html

Derf's comic strip, The City,  first appeared in The Cleveland Edition in 1990. When that paper folded in 1992, Derf was one of the founders of the Cleveland Free Times. In 2002, he moved to Cleveland Scene, where his strip now appears. The City has run in over 100 weekly papers during its history. Derf was also a staff artist-cartoonist for the Plain Dealer from 1986-89 and for the Akron Beacon Journal from 1990-1999.

Derf's cartoons have won numerous awards, including: a Green Eyeshade Award from The Society of Professional Journalists in 2004, Best Cartoon from the Association of Alternative Newspapers in 2005 (and runner up three other years) and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning in 2006. He has twice been nominated for Eisner Awards, the Oscars of comics.

Derf, a Richfield native and a graduate of Ohio State University, is also the author of three graphic novels, all set in NE Ohio. Trashed: True Tales From the Back of a Garbage Truck  (SLG Publishing, 2001) is the memoir of his career as a 19-year-old garbageman in Richfield. Punk Rock & Trailer Parks (SLG Publishing, 2009) is a sprawling fictional comedy set during Akron's punk rock heyday. My Friend Dahmer, a 200-page graphic novel slated for publication in 2011, is a memoir of Derf's teenage friendship at Revere High School with the strange boy who became the most infamous serial killer since Jack the Ripper. This new 200-page graphic novel is based on a 24-page short story, now a cult favorite, that Derf previously self published.

Also receiving Lifetime Achievement Awards are comic book writer Harvey Pekar and novelist and Cleveland State prof Sheila Schwartz, both posthumously. Derf, it should be noted, is only half dead.

Nominees for the various awards include these BJ Alums.

II. Fiction:
Novel:
Dan Chaon: Await Your Reply
Sheila Schwartz: Lies Will Take You Somewhere
Thrity Umrigar: The Weight of Heaven

IV. Memoir:
Kazim Ali: Bright Felon
Thrity Umrigar: First Darling of The Morning

III. Graphic Novel:Derf: Punk Rock And Trailer Parks
Harvey Pekar: The Beats

VI. Journalism: Personal Interest Story
Joanna Connors: Beyond RapeDavid Giffels: The American Dream
Michael Gill: Sacrificial Lambs