Yuricon

Yuricon was an anime convention geared toward fans of yuri anime and manga.^[1] The first Yuricon event was held in 2003 in Newark, New Jersey with about 200 attending,^[2] although Yuricon has existed as an online entity since 2000.^[3] The event was organized by Yuricon, LLC., which continues to run Yuri-focused events of its own,^[4] collaborates with other organizations to hold unique events,^[5][6] and hosts contests.^[7]

In 2000, Erica Friedman founded Yuricon on Usenet with the name of "Anilesbocon" but this was changed to Yuricon in 2003 in an effort to better "celebrate Yuri in anime and manga."^[8][9] In 2003, the organization had a "three-day anime and manga convention" in Newark, New Jersey.^[10] Two years later, Yuricon hosted an event in Tokyo and co-sponsored Onna!, together with the Shoujo Arts Society, which focused on women's roles in animation and comics.^[10] Two years after that, in 2007, Yuricon ran a small one-day event, named Yurisai, to recreate the feel of the Tokyo event from 2005.^[11] During this time period, Yuricon hosted several panels,^[12] cosplay events,^[13] anime music video contests, and other competitions, while Yuricon maintained a library of yuri manga for attendees to read.^[14]

Some years later, in 2011, Yuricon moved to a new website.^[15] The same year, the Kyoto International Manga Museum added works published by ALC Publishing, the publishing arm of Yuricon, into its permanent collection.^[16] Also that year, Renbooks, an Italian publisher announced that an Italian edition of Rica 'tte Kanji!? would be published.^[17] The following year, ALC Publishing announced a partnership with JManga to publish POOR POOR LIPS!,^[18] Kimi no Tamenara Shineru,^[19] and three other yuri comic titles.^[20] The next year, Okazu, then just a blog of Friedman, joined the domain of Yuricon^[21] and ALC publishing stopped publishing new material.^[8]

In later years, the webpage of the Yuricon website as a whole was improved, while the group's founder, Erica Friedman, asked for donations to ensure that Yuricon and Okazu are "on the cutting edge of Yuri Culture."^[22] Later, the new-and-improved Yuricon store would be opened^[23] and the page listing yuri essays would be improved.^[24] Then, in May 2018, Friedman appeared at a guest panelist at AnimeNEXT in Atlantic City, NJ.^[25] The following year, Yuricon joined forces with PacSet to launch a guided trip across Japan "dedicated to the Yuri genre of Japanese animation and manga," which would take place in September of that year.^[26] The same year, Erica Friedman appeared at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival to celebrate 100 years of Yuri,^[27] while speaking at various other events that year.^[28]

In May 2020, Yuricon hosted an online panel about yuri.^[29]

Yuricon has a publishing arm, ALC Publishing, the only all-yuri publisher in the world.^[1] Publications include translations from the Japanese—such as Rica 'tte Kanji!? and WORKS—as well as the original English-language anthology series Yuri Monogatari.

Friedman has run guest lectures about yuri at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,^[32] MIT,^[33] Kanagawa University,^[34] International Christian University,^[35] and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.^[36]

Additionally, Friedman has run a blog titled Okazu since 2002, which she describes as the "world's oldest and most comprehensive blog" which focuses on lesbian themes in Japanese comics, cartoons, and other media.^[37] Yuricon also describes Okazu as their "official" blog.^[38] In 2022 essays written for Okazu, including those detailing the history of Yuricon and ALC Publishing, were published alongside Friedman's other works within By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga.

• Yuri Monogatari (named for Nobuko Yoshiya's Hana Monogatari) is an annual anthology of yuri-themed short comics. In September 2007, Yuri Monogatari 3 was nominated for the Lambda Book Award.^[39] Five Yuri Monogatari anthologies have been published, with volumes 4 and 6 currently listed in the Yuricon store.^[40][41] Caroline Ryder of The Advocate called Yuri Monogatari a "must-have manga".^[42]
• Shoujoai ni Bouken^[43]
• Rica 'tte Kanji!?^[44]
• WORKS^[45]

• Yuricon official website
• Shoujo Arts Society official website at Archive.org