The Skeptic Ink Network is proud to be a supporter of this year’s The Amaz!ng Meeting (TAM) and we’d like to introduce our readers to some of the excellent voices which make the “4-day vacation from unreason” such a pleasure. With well over 80 names filling out the program, we’re not able to give every worthy speaker their due, so we’ve decided to focus on skeptical women that inspire us. We think they’ll inspire you, too.
Today I have the privilege of introducing you to Sara Mayhew: international award-winning mangaka, author, TED fellow, and veteran TAM presenter. Her most recent graphic novel series is titled Legend of the Ztarr (pronounced like “star”) and her TAM talk this year will be Skepticism for Everyone: Popularizing Skepticism with Entertainment. Skeptics are traditionally quite strong in the sciences and the fields of stage magic, comedy, and live music, but we could certainly use a bit of boost when it comes to the venerable and powerful art of narrative storytelling, a field traditionally held by those who indulge themselves and immerse their readers in faith-based and magical thinking.
Since Sara is one of the few active skeptics who actually tells stories for a living, she is particularly well situtated to help us learn how to make people think more skeptically while working in that medium, and how to make use of existing popular stories to highlight skeptical processes and humanist values. I’ll be there to absorb her talk in Vegas and cheer her on, but for the time being, if you would like to get to know more about who Sara Mayhew is and what she does, she has most graciously consented to the following face-to-face interview:
I’d like to thank Sara so much for taking the time to share with us here at Skeptic Ink, and I hope you guys are as stoked as I am to see her at TAM.
Share and enjoy!
