It’s time to add some excellent reads to your list! For Black History Month, our Black Resources Collection selector Alicia T. curated a list of graphic novels by Black authors. This list has a special focus on authors from the Pacific Northwest.
Celebrate these local authors
Photo credit: Joe Peacock
Rupert Kinnard
This Portland-based cartoonist is celebrated for creating the first gay Black superhero in comic history, the Brown Bomber (plus his lesbian sidekick, Diva Touché Flambé). He’s featured in the Never Look Away mural at NW Couch & NW Broadway celebrating local LGBTQIA+ community leaders. Kinnard told Portland Mercury last summer, “Arriving in Portland in the late ’70s, there was just something about the energy of the communities here — the African American community, the queer movement, the formation of the first Pride Parade — that just attracted me. I wanted to be a part of as much as I could.”
Book rec from Alicia: Ooops...I Just Catharted
Photo credit: Portland Street Art Alliance.
Olivia Stephens
Active in the PNW zine community, illustrator and graphic novelist Olivia Stephens is known for the middle grade novel Artie and the Wolf Moon and the Ignatz Award-winning comic Darlin’ and Her Other Names, among others. She’s illustrated for publications like The New York Times and The Guardian, and has attended residencies through MacDowell, Tin House and more.
Book rec from Alicia: The Tiger’s Tongue
Photo credit: Mario Gallucci
Melanie Stevens
On top of her work making graphic novels like the WaterShed series, Melanie Stevens is an artist, illustrator, and writer. She teaches at PNCA in their Visual Studies department.
Thrillingly, you can find her art in the Black Cultural Center in the updated North Portland Library. She created wooden sculpted portraits of four Afrofuturist authors: Octavia E. Butler, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, and Sun Ra.
Book rec from Alicia: WaterShed
Photo credit: Elijah Hasan
David F. Walker
David F. Walker is an award-winning author and graphic novelist based in the Pacific Northwest. A longtime Portland resident, Walker is known for many award-winning creations, including the series Bitter Root as well as The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History, both of which have received Eisner Awards. In addition to his comics work, he has taught at Portland State University, PNCA, and the NW Film Center.
Book rec from Alicia: Big Jim and the White Boy
Make sure to check out Alicia’s full list for more incredible graphic novels by Black authors and illustrators. And we hope you’ll join us for a full month of events honoring Black History Month!
Reading list
Celebrating Black Graphic Novel Authors
It’s about time to add some excellent reads to your list! For Black History Month, our Black Resources Collection selector Alicia T. curated a list of graphic novels by Black authors. There is a little bit of everything for readers of all ages. This list has a special focus on authors from the Pacific Northwest.
