Yuricon and ALC Publishing's mission is to create, disseminate and celebrate Yuri in anime and manga.

Yuricon was founded in 2000 by Erica Friedman as AniLesboCon, with the mission of bringing together fans of lesbian images in Japanese animation and comics. Initially, ALC was designed to be a "virtual" convention only, with real contests to foster community and creativity. This mission gathered people from all over the world; to discuss and create stories that represented an entire continuum of lesbian experience, from youthful crushes to adult relationships.

As the ALC community rapidly grew, events were planned where members could get together off-line. The name was officially changed to Yuricon in 2002, to better represent the mission: to celebrate Yuri in anime and manga. Yuricon members have since contributed programming and subject expertise to conventions, film festivals and academic programs across North America and Europe.

In 2003, Yuricon sponsored a full three-day anime and manga convention in Newark, NJ. The convention brought together fans of Yuri with panels, an academic lecture series, games, several dozen vendors of anime and manga and related items and, of course, video programming.

Yuricon expanded efforts in events, from academic lectures at leading universities, to a ground-breaking all-yuri event in Tokyo, Japan, a joint event with another anime society, the "Yurisai" event and, of course, anime conventions across the US.

The past years have seen exponential growth for Yuricon, ALC Publishing and Yuri, both in Japan and the West. Yuricon will continue to expand its reach through a variety of events and projects, designed to address the needs of various relevant audiences, from long-time Yuri fans, to gays and lesbians who have never heard of anime. Yuricon and ALC Publishing will continue to pursue publishing, events, public speaking engagements, social networking and our online community to bring Yuri to the world.

ALC Publishing, Yuricon's publishing arm, was born in 2003. ALC Publishing's mission is to bring high quality Japanese-style comics to the worldwide English-speaking audience. Our collaborative effort, award-nominated Yuri anthology Yuri Monogatari, includes art and stories by writers and artists all over the world. Our translated manga, Rica 'tte Kanji!? and WORKS have been popular world-wide. ALC has continued to expand with translations from the Japanese, a new Yuri Monogatari anthology annually and an illustrated volume of Shoujoai ni Bouken, the adventures of our beloved Yuricon mascot, Yuriko.

With the birth of ALC Publishing a new mission was begun: to create a cause here in the west, that would have an effect on the fans of yuri in Japan. The publishers of Japanese lesbian magazine Anise, published a bilingual version of Rica 'tte Kanji!?, released in Japan for the entire Asian comic market and a report of the Yuricon in Tokyo event has been published by Yuri Hime, Japan's only all-yuri manga magazine. In 2005 ALC Publishing became the first American manga company to have a space at Tokyo's largest comic event, Comiket.

ALC Publishing also continues to expand into the Gay/Lesbian comics market, bringing Yuri manga to a whole new audience, with outreach through G/L/B/T comics consortium Prism Comics, lesbian pop culture website Afterellen and local GLBT events and groups.

We strongly believe that ALC Publishing will continue to build even stronger bridges to Japanese and Western Yuri fandom, lesbians and their friends.

Yuricon's membership is over 2000, and ALC Publishing is gearing up for many more publications, both translated and original, to be released next year. Yuricon will once again be on the road, check the Yuri Events Page for our schedule! We're contributing to discussions in both academic and entertainment venues, and persevering in our continuing mission to create, disseminate and celebrate Yuri.

You can join one of the Yuricon Mailing Lists to get updates and announcements about Yuricon and ALC Publishing, events and projects, or just fun conversation about Yuri in anime and manga. Or be a part of the process and join one of the Yuricon or ALC Publishing Projects. And you can always show your support for Yuricon's mission by buying Yuri manga, anime and gifts from the Yuricon Shop or by joining us at upcoming events.

We'll look forward to seeing you!

 

Erica Friedman holds a Masters Degree in Library Science and a B.A. in Comparative Literature, and is a full-time researcher for a large pharmaceutical firm. She is dedicated to bringing together fans of Yuri, and considers herself very lucky for being given the opportunity to do so. She has lectured at dozens of conventions and presented films at several film festivals, notably the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. She has participated in an academic lecture series on women and gender roles in anime at MIT and University of Illinois, and written about yuri and shoujoai for several websites and Animerica magazine. She reviews Yuri anime and manga on her blog Okazu. She can be reached at yuricon@hotmail.com

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