Erica Friedman, founder of Yuricon and ALC Publishing, talks to us about Yuri Manga

Photo of Yuri Monogatari 6, courtesy of Erica Friedman

Erica Friedman, founder of Yuricon and ALC Publishing, has contributed greatly to Yuri fans. She took some time out of her schedule to give me an interview for Examiner:

Jolie du Pre: What is Yuri Manga? Please explain to our readers.

Erica Friedman: Yuri Manga is Japanese comics with lesbian characters, themes or stories. "Yuri" in general here in the west is used to refer to any Japanese animation or comic with lesbian characters or storyline.

JDP: Yuricon is a website for those interested in Yuri Anime and Manga. I don't know of a Yuri site that is more comprehensive. What drew you to this area and what motivated you to create the website?

EF: In 2000, I became interested in Japanese animation and comics for women and girls. At the time, the genre known here as "Yaoi" (stories of relationships between men, drawn and written mostly for straight women) was just getting its start here in the west. I was more interested in stories that represented my tribe - lesbians. (That last line was a silly pun, since the word "Yuri" to represent the genre comes from a word "Yurizoku" - Lily Tribe, which was coined to describe lesbians.) So, I started Yuricon to bring together fans of Yuri animation and comics series. We were originally only going to be an online community, but since 2002, we've run a number of live events as well.

JDP: Who are some of the artists and authors featured on the Yuricon website?

EF: The Yuricon website is actually mostly about the community of Yuri fans and their creative works. We give space to artists of "fan art" for our mascots, the dashing out pop idol Yuriko and her girlfriend,
novelist Midori. We have a channel on YouTube for "anime music videos," and provide space for essays and other writing, as well as having a thriving Yuri community on Yahoogroups.

The artists we've published in our Yuri Monogatari series and our translated books are some of the best in Yuri manga from Japan, independent artists such as Rica Takashima and Eriko Tadeno, as well as talented artists from around the world who create stories of lesbian life and love - from the completely realistic, to the wildly fantastic.

JDP: Tell us about ALC Publishing.

EF: AC Publishing was born after I met Rica Takashima. We were both unhappy with what was being published at the time - stories of women who fell in love with one another, but couldn't be together. I began writing a novel, she drew manga, both meant to be mostly realistic, but happy, stories of lesbians. I realized instantly that I wanted people to read her book, so I created ALC in order to publish it. This was followed by another translation and a number of anthologies, mentioned above.

JDP: I own a copy of Yuri Monogatari 6. It's a gorgeous book and an exciting addition to Yuri Manga stories. Please tell us more about it.

EF: YM6, as we call it, is the 6th anthology we've done at ALC. We take stories by artists and writers from around the world - women and men - and pull together a book that tells stories that step beyond the usual "girl meets girl, they both like each other, then end." Stories in a volume of Yuri Monogatari can deal with space pirates or the death of a relationship, manga noir or young love. The one uniting factor is that these are stories of lesbian life and love.

You can find all our ALC Publishing books on Amazon, on manga/anime superstore Right Stuf, directly from the Yuricon Shop and sometimes even in a store near you!