OUT IN AUGUST: LUCY KNISLEY ‘09 RELEASES NEW MIDDLE-GRADE GRAPHIC NOVEL WITH RANDOM HOUSE GRAPHIC
You can now pre-order SUGAR SHACK by critically-acclaimed cartoonist Lucy Knisley ‘09! Out in August, SUGAR SHACK is the third and last installment of the popular PEAPOD FARM middle-grade graphic novel series with Random House Graphic.
“For one city-kid turned country girl whose life has been changing nonstop, it seems like its finally time to find her place in her new blended family while settling in for the winter!”—Random House Graphic
(more…)2025 Thesis Exhibit
Congratulations to the Class of 2025! An exhibit featuring work by the graduating class is on display at the CCS Gallery. The gallery is located at 94 South Main Street, in downtown White River Junction, in the Colodny building. Exhibit hours are Monday through Friday, 12 noon to 4 pm, and White River Junction’s First Friday (June 6), from 5-8pm The Thesis Exhibition will be on display and open to the public until June 9. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Congratulations to the Class of 2025:
Adrienne Adkins
Sydney Austin
Amelia B.C. Dutton
Maia Foster O’Neal
Clayton Fralin
Edea Lee Giang
Taylor Hunt
Sofia Martin
Joshua Murdock
Fernanda Nocedal
Jimmy Pavlick
Fern Pellerin
Gabrielle Peñalver Dumas
Malcolm Smith
REEL LIFE, the new middle grade graphic novel by Kane Lynch ‘16, is now available via Scholastic Graphix at your local bookstore!
REEL LIFE, the new middle grade graphic novel by Kane Lynch ‘16, is now available via Scholastic Graphix at your local bookstore!
“…A thoughtful drama with richly drawn characters, and a meaningful exercise in empathy for young readers.” –School Library Journal
(more…)New Children’s Picture Book: 100 Goats and Granny! by Atinuke and illustrated by Lauren Hinds ’10
100 Goats and Granny! by Atinuke and illustrated by Lauren Hinds ’10 released May 20th!
“…Atinuke’s text rollicks while Hinds’ illustrations urge readers to slow down to take in every delicious detail. . . Great goatish fun.” –Kirkus Reviews
CCS Alumni Make ALA’s 2024 Best Graphic Novels for Children’s List
Congratulations to CCS alumni who made the American Library Association ALA’s Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table 2024 Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading list!
Coco Fox ‘19 for LET’S GO, COCO!; HarperAlley.
Colleen Frakes ‘07 for KNOTS; HarperAlley.
Emma Hunsinger ‘20 for HOW IT ALL ENDS; Green Willow Books.
TillieWalden ‘16 for art for TEGAN AND SARA: CRUSH; Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Luke Healy ‘14 for color for CURLFRIENDS: NEW IN TOWN by Sharee Miller; Little, Brown Ink.
More on books by alumni:
(more…)Educating the world’s best and brightest comics talent
A print copy of our new graphic guide, Art & Courage: A Guide to Sustaining a Creative Path, has been sent to all those on our mailing list as a part of this year’s annual appeal! Look for it arriving at your doorstep very soon!
Please consider donating to CCS today as we embark on celebrating 20 years of educating the world’s best and brightest comics talent.
All of The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) comics are available as a free digital download! Read Art & Courage online now or order the print edition.
Alum Luke Healy’s Hilarious New Book: Self-Esteem and the End of the World
“Self-Esteem and the End of the World (such an excellent title) may be described as autofiction. But the word “cartoon” is key here, because while regular autofiction is rarely funny – more often, it’s the polar opposite – Healy’s book is hilarious.” –The Guardian
(more…)ANNOUNCING THE SHORTLIST NOMINEES FOR THE 2025 CARTOONIST STUDIO PRIZE
For immediate release
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VERMONT – Each year, The Cartoonist Studio Prize will be awarded to work that exemplifies excellence in cartooning. The creators of two exceptional comics will be awarded $1,000 each. This year, there are twelve nominees in each the “long-form” category and the “short-form” category. The winners for each category will be announced in April 2025.
Nominees for Best Long-Form Comic
The nominees for Best Long-Form Comic are:
Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang (First Second)
Boy Island by Leo Fox (Silver Sprocket)
Evil Eyes Sea by Özge Samancı (Uncivilized Books)
Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls (MCD)
Golem Pit 224 by Julia Gootzeit (Fieldmouse Press)
The Gulf by Adam de Souza (Tundra Book)
K is in Trouble by Gary Clement (Little, Brown Ink)
Petar & Liza by Miroslav Sekulic-Struja, translated by Jenna Allen (Fantagraphics Books)
(more…)Hard Tomorrows: The 2025 Eisner Spring Lecture Spotlights the Work of Cartoonist Eleanor Davis
For immediate release
April 2, 2025
This year’s annual WILL EISNER SPRING LECTURE features award-winning cartoonist and illustrator Eleanor Davis, whose work explores personal and political themes with striking visual storytelling. The talk is co-sponsored by The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) and The Leslie Center for the Humanities at Dartmouth College with the Will and Ann Eisner Family Foundation.
When: Thursday, April 17, 4:30 pm
Where: Moore B03 at Dartmouth College
Free and open to the public. No registration is required.
Eleanor Davis is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator. In 2009, Davis won the Eisner’s Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award and was named one of Print magazine’s New Visual Artists. Her books include How To Be Happy (2014), You and a Bike and a Road (2017), Why Art? (2018), and The Hard Tomorrow (2019), which won the LA Times Book Prize for Graphic Novels and Comics and the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story. The New York Review of Books calls Eleanor Davis “one of the very best cartoonists working today.”
(more…)Knots and How It All Ends on School Library Journal Best Graphic Novels of 2024
Congratulations Colleen Frakes ’07 and Emma Hunsigner ’20! Knots and How It All Ends are featured in the School Library Journal’s (SLJ) Best Books of 2024 list. The SLJ list of 25 books showcases comics that push storytelling to new heights.
(more…)BOOK 2 OF ANDY WARNER’S ‘12 ODDBALL HISTORIES CHILDREN’S GRAPHIC NOVEL SERIES IS OUT NOW: SPICES AND SPUDS
The second installment of the hilarious and informative children’s graphic novel series ODDBALL HISTORIES by Andy Warner ‘12 is out now! This time, Andy explores SPICES AND SPUDS and our long complicated history with plants.
“A concise overview of a complex and fascinating history presented in a digestible visual medium.”—Kirkus Reviews
“An introduction to plants as crops that entertains as well as it educates. A helpful purchase for covering changes over time and the interdependence of trade and agriculture.”—School Library Journal
(more…)NEW! Art & Courage: A Guide to Sustaining a Creative Path
The Applied Cartooning Lab is pleased to announce its newest graphic guide, Art & Courage: A Guide to Sustaining a Creative Path. The comic book is based on Art & Fear, Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Since its release in 1993, that book has become an underground classic helping artists across various disciplines persevere through uncertainty and self-doubt.
(more…)NEW! CCS Webinars ON WRITING AND DRAWING COMICS
This fall, The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) will host a series of low-cost ($5), 90-minute webinars that will be open to the public. All proceeds will go to sponsor zine fests around the USA that CCS supports. The webinars will feature alums, instructors, and visiting artists. Here is the lineup for fall 2024:
- Writing Believable Characters with Brenna Thummler – 10/16/24 at 6:30pm ET
- Next up: Handlettering For Comics with King Ray ’23 – 10/29/24 at 6:30pm ET
New release: WOE, A Housecat’s Story of Despair by alum Lucy Knisley ‘09
Congratulations to Lucy Knisley ’09 on the release of what Kirkus Reviews calls an “an amusing, heartfelt, and bittersweet read that will resonate deeply with pet lovers”!
“WOE is a beautiful tribute….will be enjoyed by not only cat enthusiasts but also by readers who enjoy memoir comics with a bit of humor.” —School Library Journal
Cat lovers and fans of the hilarious Linney the Cat webcomic will be especially happy to hear that WOE: A Housecat’s Story of Despair releases 7/2 by Random House Graphic. You can pre-oder the comic collection now!
(more…)A NEW GRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY OF WORLD-RENOWNED ARTIST RUTH ASAWA by alum Sam Nakahira ‘21
The much-awaited graphic biography of world-renowned artist Ruth Asawa by Sam Nakahira ‘21 who was bestowed the privilege of documenting and sharing the life of such an amazing human being. RUTH ASAWA: AN ARTIST TAKES SHAPE released on March 20 by Getty Publications and ABRAMS Kids!
“This graphic biography by Sam Nakahira, developed in consultation with Asawa’s younger daughter, Addie Lanier, chronicles the genesis of Asawa as an artist—from the horror of Pearl Harbor to her transformative education at Black Mountain College to building her life in San Francisco, where she would further develop and refine her groundbreaking sculpture.” —Getty Publications
“Nakahira chronicles the young adult years of acclaimed Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa (1926–2013) in this illuminating graphic novel debut.” —Publishers Weekly