About

Katherine Dacey has been reviewing manga since 2006, when she joined PopCultureShock‘s team of writers. Over the next two years, she worked with webmaster Jon Haehnle and fellow contributor Erin Finnegan to transform Erin’s “Manga Recon” concept from a bi-monthly column into a full-fledged website covering manga, anime, and Japanese pop culture. In her capacity as Senior Manga Editor, Kate was responsible for expanding the Manga Recon team from two to nine, and for developing many of the site’s recurring features such as The Otaku Bookshelf, a column devoted to light novels; On the Shojo Beat, a column focused on Viz’s extensive Shojo Beat line; and Comics for Manga Lovers, a column introducing Death Note fans to Western comics. She stepped down from her post in January 2009 to launch The Manga Critic.

Kate’s resume also includes serving as a panelist at the American Library Association’s national convention, New York Comic-Con, and Wondercon; contributing to Chopsticks, a “comprehensive guide to Japanese culture in New York City”; and contributing to the School Library Journal’s Good Comics for Kids blog. She has been interviewed by Blog@Newsarama and Voice of America Radio, and has had her work featured on sites around the web, including the New Yorker‘s Book Blog and The New York Times. Most recently, she’s contributed to the CBLDF’s Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices (Dark Horse) and served as a judge for the 2017 Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

In her professional life, Kate is a musicologist whose research explores the emergence of modernism in the United States and Soviet Union, the development of the American music industry, and the relationship between music, creativity, and copyright. She is an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.

The Manga Critic in Print

The Manga Critic Around the Web

Guest Posts and Roundtable Discussions

Interviews and Podcasts

Mentions

The Manga Critic at Conventions

American Library Association Annual Conference

  • 2010: “The Best Manga You’re Not Reading” (Panel with Brigid Alverson, Robin Brenner, and Martha Cornog)
  • 2010: “Good Comics for Kids: Building a Graphic Novel Collection for Young Readers” (Panel with Brigid Alverson, Robin Brenner, Esther Keller, Eva Volin, and Snow Wildsmith)

New York Comic-Con

  • 2010: “Good Comics for Kids: Building a Graphic Novel Collection for Young Readers” (Panel with Brigid Alverson, Robin Brenner, Esther Keller, Scott Robbins, and Eva Volin)
  • 2009: “Newsflash: Teen Girls Read Manga!” (Panel with Brigid Alverson, Robin Brenner, and Tricia Narwani)

WonderCon

  • 2010: “Comics Journalism” (Panel with David Brothers, Laura Hudson, Graeme McMillan, and Ron Richards)

One thought on “About”

  1. Pingback: Department of Excuses

Comments are closed.