An Interview with Glynnis Fawkes

Every project asks for a different approach, and style develops with every page you draw.

While gathering my thoughts on comics and topophilia, I checked out the SAW Free Friday Night Comics Workshop that Glynnis Fawkes hosted on “Drawing to Discover Your World.” I immediately requested Persephone’s Garden from the library and was charmed by her diary comics in Greece and her portrayal of family life, including the circular nature of conversations of caregivers with small children and parents with Alzheimer's. I reached out to Glynnis to learn more about her comics journey and what she is working on now.

Describe your comics journey—how did you get into making comics?

I’ve drawn comics since grade school, and in high school I had a class in creative writing that required us to write, edit, design and produce a quarterly publication. I drew lots of cartoons for that, including one of my friend Elliott Smith which is too dumb to include here, but just to say we felt free to be funny and nonsensical.

My MFA thesis was half cartoons, half paintings, and my thesis reviewers wanted to talk about the cartoons. In 1999 comics were not part of the curriculum (at least at the Museum school in Boston) and I was drawing to discover how to make comics.

An archaeology professor recommended I apply for a Fulbright, which resulted in a grant to Cyprus, where two years later I published my first books. I’m still very proud of Cartoons of Cyprus, which will turn 25 next year, and very grateful to Ruth Keshishian who revived Moufflon press to publish this book.

I married and had two kids in quick succession, then we moved to Vermont where I didn’t know many people. The sense of isolation and responsibility for two under two caused me to lose my way for several years. I had little and fractured time, childcare was expensive, and I didn’t know what I was drawing for. I discovered that quick drawings about daily life with the kids helped me feel like I had at least captured a fleeting moment, and helped to regain my sense of self. I collected these drawings and self-published, and began to attend SPX and MoCCAfest, which helped me find a comics-making community. These shows led to meeting small press publishers, and to Reign of Crumbs (Kilgore) Persephone’s Garden (Secret Acres). Especially thanks to Meg Lemke and Muthamagazine, and to the Center for Cartoon Studies, where I started teaching in 2019. Initially I felt like an imposter because I myself did not go to cartoon school—I’m an autodidact in the cartoon department. Working on Charlotte Bronte Before Jane Eyre with editor James Sturm was a tremendous education, especially in the pacing of comics pages.

When the kids were in middle school and it was time to stop drawing about their lives. I signed a contract for 1177 BC in 2020 and adapted, drew, and finished the book through the pandemic, finally finishing in spring 2023. I’ve since been working on a middle grade adventure for Holiday house. It’s a story based on archaeology and loosely on my own life about artists after the Bronze Age eruption of Santorini (ca. 1600 BC) —a project that I’m afraid has grown into an epic—but my plan is to finish it in a year— let’s see!

I’m also looking ahead to my next book, a memoir of my years around the turn of the millennium living in Cyprus and Lebanon. Originally I’d planned this as a love story of how I met my husband, but as of last year, the story has become about how after 20 years, the relationship fell apart. I’m currently a finalist for a second Fulbright to Cyprus in order to create this book, which will include stories of Cypriots who made my initial work possible. But I’ve heard nothing, and all funding has been cut.

How did you develop your comics voice?

By drawing a lot! Every project asks for a different approach, and style develops with every page you draw. After the complex system I used to create 1177 BC (using 3 stages of pencil on paper, Photoshop, Procreate, and Indesign) my most recent pages are ink on paper with one pencil draft.

What are some of the joys and challenges of making nonfiction comics?

I love to tell nonfiction stories—for example I’m working on a comic for SevenDays VT about my neighbor who has been protesting for 40 years. The challenge is to capture the essence of her story in a small space, and to decide what information is important to tell this story, and what I can’t include, and to not overwhelm a reader with too much information.

Are you working on something now?

I’m working on a book that may be called Asara’s Island for Holiday House. I started this in 2018 in residence in Angouleme where I drew a complete draft of thumbnails. I put this project on hold while I drew the Bronte book, Persephone’s Garden, and 1177 BC. This spring I finished a complete pencil draft, and I’m waiting for my editor’s feedback now. It’s the most monumental project I’ve attempted—but wait until I get to my memoir! I’m looking forward to inking, which is when the spirit of the project will become visible.

I illustrated Someones Gunna End Up Crying by Jo Knowles, coming this May from Candlewick. I teach a summer workshop Coming of Age Comics at CCS with Jo, and this book grew out of 5 years of teaching together. I learn from Jo every year, and the students bring so much joy and energy.

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Glynnis Fawkes is the co-author with Eric H Cline and illustrator of 1177 BC: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed (Princeton University Press). She is also the author-illustrator of Charlotte Brontë before Jane Eyre (Little, Brown) and Persephone’s Garden (Secret Acres), among other books, and her comics have appeared on the website of The New Yorker. She has worked as an archaeological illustrator around the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean and teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.

Learn more about Glynnis and her work:

www.glynnisfawkes.com

insta/ bluesy @glynnisfawkes