The Ohio Center for the Book is very pleased to announce that Valentino Zullo (@ValentinoLucaZ) will be the 2020-2021 Ohio Center for the Book Scholar-in-Residence. The Ohio Center for the Book, including its associated circulating book collection of Ohio authors, is located at Cleveland Public Library’s Main Library in downtown Cleveland.
Valentino L. Zullo is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at Kent State University where he is readying the defense of his dissertation, “Freudian Strips: Comics, Mental Health, and the Psychologization of America.” He is also American Editor of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, a licensed social worker practicing as a Maternal Depression Therapist at OhioGuidestone, and a candidate for psychoanalytic training at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center. He has published articles in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, Asylum: A Magazine for Democratic Psychiatry, and a chapter in the book More Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods.
As Cleveland is the birthplace of Superman and Ohio has a host of comics creators living in the state, this medium is one focus of the Ohio Center for the Book. Mr. Zullo brings a wealth of expertise and a passion for comics to his Residency as well as the ability to communicate and to educate. The Ohio Center for the Book wants to share that expertise and passion with all Ohioans. In the near future, we will be announcing specific initiatives on which Mr. (Soon-to-be-Dr.) Zullo will be working. We also encourage you to contact us at ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org if you would be interested in having the Scholar-in-Residence speak to your library staff about how to incorporate comics into the regular programming of your library.