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…)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…)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.
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…)ALUM COCO FOX ’19 PUBLISHES DEBUT GRAPHIC NOVEL WITH HARPERALLEY
The debut graphic novel by Coco Fox ‘19, LET’S GO, COCO!, hits bookshelves on 8/13 with HarperAlley!
“This is the book I wish I could have read when I was in sixth grade. It would have made me laugh while also making me feel less alone,” said Coco Fox ‘19. “LET’S GO, COCO! is a middle grade graphic novel that shows how making new friends and being yourself is a clumsy, silly, scary and fun experience. It felt cathartic to revisit that time and felt a little bit like I was whispering to that sixth-grade me, ‘Psst, you’re going to be OK. You’re confused, but so is everyone else… also, when you get older, you’ll get to draw as much as you want to.’”
LET’S GO, COCO has received great reviews:
“In this semi-autobiographical debut, Fox combines middle school angst with giggle-inducing humor to deliver a wholesome graphic novel romp.”
—Publishers Weekly
(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
New Anthology: Universal Flaws of Robotics
Universal Flaws of Robotics is a comics anthology collecting 19 stories all about automata. Our amazing team of creators have spun electric dreams of romance, adventure, horror, humor, and more. Dive in, and discover that no two robots are built quite the same.
(more…)Congratulations to the CCS 2024 Eisner Award Nominations
San Diego Comic-Con announced the nominees for the 2024 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, honoring works published in 2023. Congratulations to CCS faculty, alum, and fellow nominees:
BEST WRITER/ARTIST
Tillie Walden ‘16, Clementine Book Two (Image Skybound)
CCS at Graphic Medicine Conference in Ireland
The Center for Cartoon Studies is heading to Ireland for the annual Graphic Medicine Conference. CCS president and co-founder, Michelle Ollie, along with several alumni and CCS fellows will be participating in the traveling conference.
Cartoonist and comics librarian Natalie Norris ‘20 will discuss “Harnessing the Transformational Magic of Graphic Memoir to Process Trauma.” J.D. Lunt ‘16 will present, “Comics, Oral History, and Sharing the Magic of St. Dorothy’s Rest, the Oldest No Cost Health Camp in California.” Michelle Ollie will lead a design talk, “Using Design to Improve Accessibility.”
(more…)