Owen Heitmann is an award-winning South Australian comic creator who is interested in the medium’s ability to tell stories beyond the superhero genre with which it is often closely associated. His short stories have been published in comics anthologies and literary magazines in the US, Canada and Australia. During his time as writer-in-residence at SA Writers Centre he will be working on his debut full-length graphic novel: a YA romantic comedy called First Dates, Incorporated. Owen began writing this work-in-progress in 2016 with the support of an Independent Makers and Presenters Project Grant through Arts SA.

Owen has been writing comics for more than a dozen years, including self-publishing zines and webcomics, and more recently publishing more widely in comics anthologies and literary magazines. He’s also been invited to appear at numerous literary festivals in SA and interstate. Having primarily written part-time, with the help of a grant from Arts SA, Owen is now working full-time on this comics career, and hopes to transition from writing  comics to full-length graphic novels.

Owen is a co-organiser of  Comics with Friends and Strangers, a monthly meeting aimed at comics creators, which recieved the 2014 Express Media Award for ‘Best New Project by a young person or for young people in South Australia’.