At the annual meeting of the American Society of Overseas Research I held a roundtable workshop, inviting archaeologists to write and draw about their research and discoveries. Participants had several minutes for each panel, to draw about a significant discovery or idea, then to situate that thing/concept in time and place, and to tell a story about it. There was an all-star cast of participants, including Lindy Crewe, director of CAARI, Mireille Lee, director of the Foundation for Ethical Stewardship and Cultural Heritage, Eric Cline author of 1177 BC and his colleague Assaf Yasur-Landau, and other archaeologist-artists. I was impressed by how they were each able to tell a story on a single page.

This was one of several events and workshops this year! Also pictured: a workshop at the University of Vermont’s Cartooning Lab; a talk at the Parthenon in Nashville, TN where I also gave a drawing workshop at Vanderbilt University; and a sketch from my visit to Skidmore College, where I also gave a talk about the making of graphic 1177 BC and a drawing workshop.

Winner of the 2026 Paper Rocket Publishing Prize!

Get your own copy of Mudhouse, the comic I drew at Mudhouse residency by supporting the Paper Rocket Kickstarter. I’m so happy this project is in the powerful capable hands of Paper Rocket!

Published in Narrative Magazine, a comic about how the Nav system in my EV knows more than I’d like to admit.

Read the comic in the Cartoon Issue of SevenDays VT, published July 9, 2025 HERE!

After having a great time with my neighbor Debra at as many protests as I could this winter/spring I pitched this comic for the yearly Cartoon Issue to editor Dan Bolles at SevenDaysVT. I interviewed my neighbor Debra while on a walk, drafted this comic, showed it to her for her input, edited again for clarity and correctness, turned it in, and left for Italy (with my dad and kids) and Greece (for the archaeology at Kenchreai and Mud House Residency) for two months. I returned to VT just in time to see it in print. Attending these protests, especially with Debra’s humorous, practical, and hopeful-depsite-all attitude, and standing/marching together with so many people willing to brave the cold then rain, gave me energy and the feeling that resistance is worth it, and necessary for change. The fight against the current regime needs documentation in print, not only on the internet, and am glad for the chance.

I’m proud to be in the issue with CCS alumni (students in my Thesis Seminar class) Clover Ajamie and Kristin Shull, as well as national cartooning heroes Harry Bliss and Alison Bechdel. Both have new books, You Can Never Die and Spent, which I’m reading side by-side with the joy and delight of inhabiting their worlds for the moment. The endpapers of Spent show the same red chacos and blue hokas I wear—another way of walking in Alison’s (cartoon) shoes.

The last week of July 2025 Jo Knowles and I will teach a week long workshop in creating comics about growing up. This is the sixth year (I think) we’ve taught together, and every time it’s a wonder— and how not? We spend most of each day together talking about, drawing, and sharing stories about pivotal times in our lives. Who will be there? In the past we’ve had students from all over the country and of all ages, and we create an atmosphere that’s kind, humorous, and encourages the kind of courage it takes to write about not the easiest times— growing up!

Available to preorder now from you favorite local bookshop for pickup on May 27, 2025!

I’m proud to have illustrated Jo’s new middle grade novel, a story about 10-year old Maple who draws comics in response to stresses in her life– hey, that sounds familiar! Jo has an amazing ability to speak of deep emotions through the details of daily life, and to bring humor and imagination to difficult times. Some scenes I loved drawing include Maple as Captain Ladybug flying to a recycling center to dispose of the kitchen timer that torments her during math tests, Maple rolling down a hill in a barrel (I tried this when I was a kid, not recommended), Maple’s dream treehouse, and scenes of a “portal potty,” Maple’s dad’s means of escaping to Dadlandia, where he’s free from responsibilities of family.

The chance to make these illustrations grew out of teaching Coming of Age Comics together with Jo at CCS for five summers in a row, continuing this year. I love this week, and learn new aspects of story telling from Jo every year. Registration is open for Coming of Age Comics summer of 2025— a week packed with exercises designed to get to the heart of stories of growing up.

Happy New Year! To kick off 2025 why not take a look at a process discussion video on Mar Shiprim’s newly established YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MarShiprim.

Eric Cline and I discuss their collaborative adaptation of 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed into a full color graphic history, and share thoughts on future projects.

On the initiative of Zoe Richards of Burlington Wildways, along with naturalists Kate Kreusi and Alicia Daniels, and advised by state archaeologist Jess Robinson, we created six signs, now installed in Burlington’s Intervale as part of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, to tell the story of the archaeology of this unique farmland in the Winooski Valley.

We began the project in 2019, working together on text and images. A few interruptions occurred, including my work on 1177 BC) but finally the signs are installed in a beautifully renovated grove in the Intervale, right across the last parking lot, and trailheads for walking and skiing, and surrounded by farm gardens. I’ve thought a lot about ways to tell stories of archaeology visually—in creating my adaptation of 1177 BC, and in my work as illustrator of artifacts on excavations in Greece and other sites. Until now haven’t had the chance to bring that practice to my hometown to tell a story of people who lived here and benefited by the fertile flood plain soil for centuries before the present.

I’m excited to share my work adapting Eric H Cline’s 1177 BC!

For an in-depth discussion of the job of adapting Eric Cline’s original book, I wrote this article for Anceint Near East Today.

More insight into the process went into this Interview with the Usonian, a fellow Fulbright fellow to Cyprus.

I discussed the making of the book with The History of Cyprus Podcast. I was already a major fan before Andreas and I had this conversation.

Reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement July, 2024

Events for the book release:

Venetian Soda Lounge with Phoenix Books in Burlington, VT with Special Guest Call of Kinnaru, April 18

Education and Enrichment for Everyone, Burlington, VT, April 19

Floating World in Portland, OR, April 21

University of Washington Department of Classics lecture, April 26

Third Place Books, Seattle, WA, April 26

Labyrinth Books, Princeton, NJ, May 6

Yale Peabody Museum, New Haven, CT, May 9

Still North Books, Hanover, NH, May 10

More events forthcoming!

Turns out it only takes 30 seconds to feel like you’re at a chariot race/gathered round a campfire/ shipwrecked/ awestruck by an Egyptian temple! Watching makes me smile every time.

There aren’t many chances to hear new ancient music, but Saturday in Burlington was one of them. Together with Brooklyn duo Gawain and the Green Knight, The Call of Kinnaru: John Franklin (lyre), Julia Irons (voice, percussion), Rachel Fickes (aulos, lyre, voice), Jamie Levis (drums) played Songs of Greek Mythology, covered by Seven Days VT. This fall the Call of Kinnaru performed at UT Austin and Harvard, with more gigs planned for 2024. Find the full Call of Kinnaru playlist here.

I created images for projections to illustrate songs for a production of Euripides’ Helen that John produced in 2018. The lyrics often refer to myth, which for ancient audiences would have brought images to mind. These projections attempt to simulate the experience, and it’s thrilling to see how the images interact with the music.

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I was very fortunate to spend Vermont Week in Johnson at the Vermont Studio Center with 30 other artists and writers from the state. This meant hours in the studio, wonderful meals, many conversations with other residents, and open studios on Sunday. Thanks to Lori Duff for a photoshoot of me as serious author/cartoonist.