Women in Manga Tell Their Stories

Los Angeles, CA, July 10, 2018-- TOKYOPOP (www.tokyopop.com), the American media and publishing company, underscored its International Women Of Manga initiative at Anime Expo (www.anime-expo.org), Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, July 5 - 8, 2018, with the featured attendance of Natalia Batista, artist and author of Sword Princess Amaltea. She is one of the five female artists selected for this first annual manga distinction. Natalia, who is from Sweden, was a guest of honor at the new Artist Annex at Anime Expo, where she carried out portfolio reviews, live drawings, quick fan portraits, giveaways and signings. She will also be featured in a podcast interview and upcoming events in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, showcasing her workshops July 10 – 14, 2018.

The respective events are free, and open to all who wish to participate; space may be limited:
Jul 10: Kinokuniya, San Francisco https://usa.Kinokuniya.com/stores-Kinokuniya-san-francisco/
Jul 11: Los Angeles Public Library Little Tokyo https://www.lapl.org/branches/little-tokyo
Jul 11: Beyond The Book Podcast with Chris Kenneally http://beyondthebookcast.com
Jul 12: Barnes & Noble Huntington Beach https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/store/2743
Jul 14: Los Angeles County Public Library http://lacountylibrary.org/libs/whollywood/

Natalia, an art educator in Sweden, enjoys sharing her craft with others. She takes this distinction of being an International Women Of Manga honoree very seriously, as this initiative is paving the way for women of different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures to bring diversified stories to manga, a style of comics that can often suffer from a lack of diversity. TOKYOPOP has been actively looking for, and bringing fresh talent, stories and characters of color to this genre, culminating with this unique celebration of female contribution to the platform. It features five multi-cultured women from different countries, who have a range and depth of stories to share with North American manga and comic readers. A dynamic change to the manga tradition is now upon us, opening up the genre to more readers and fans, as well as inspiring artists and storytellers from around the globe; people who may never have imagined that their stories could be told.

Natalia Batista (Sword Princess Amaltea), shares the International Women Of Manga honor with Sophie-chan (Oceans of Secrets), originally from Iraq, and now living in Canada, Nana Yaa (Goldfisch) of Germany, and twins Ban Zarbo (Kamo) and Gin Zarbo (Undead Messiah) from Switzerland.

Natalia is fluent in English, and is available for interviews and podcasts while in U.S. or back in her native Sweden. Written questions can be submitted for Sophie-chan, Ban Zarbo, Gin Zarbo or Nana Yaa.

About POP Media Holdings
Founded in 1997 by media entrepreneur Stu Levy, POP Media Holdings brings Asian Pop Culture to Hollywood and beyond. Its publishing company TOKYOPOP® established the market for manga in North America, introducing the term to the English language in the process. Over its history, POP has published thousands of books, distributed anime and Asian films on home video and television, licensed merchandise to consumer goods companies, created graphic novels of major brands and led the way digitally in social media, e-commerce and user-generated content, including the mobile publishing platform POP Comics®. POP expanded internationally with offices in Europe and Japan and a network of over 160 partners in more than 50 countries and 30 languages. Its production arm has produced live-action and animated film and television content based on its extensive intellectual property library, including Priest, America's Greatest Otaku, Van Von Hunter, and a slate of projects currently in development. Visit POP atwww.TOKYOPOP.com, www.TOKYOPOP.de,www.POPcomics.com, and subscribe to TOKYOPOP TV for original web series and shows (www.youtube.com/tokyopoptv).