Talk: Drawing Resistance – Graphic Rage and Making Nonfiction Comics

Authors Aubrey Hirsch, Shay Mirk, and Eleri Harris celebrate the release of their new graphic nonfiction books with a talk about how making comics is an act of political participation and essential self-expression. This one-hour talk by all three authors about the political motivations of their comics-making process will be followed by an audience Q&A.

About the books: 

• In 25 sharp, unflinching, and darkly funny feminist comics, Aubrey Hirsch’s Graphic Rage exposes the absurdities and injustices that women know all too well, turning rage into razor-sharp wit and pushing back against the world’s worst takes. From the impossible standards of beauty to the very real dangers of living in a legislated body, Hirsch channels frustration into fearless humor and incisive critique. Whether you’re laughing, seething, or both at once, Graphic Rage reminds us that sometimes the only way to stay sane is to get mad. // Published October 7, 2025 by Split Lip Press

• Making Nonfiction Comics is an accessible guide to nonfiction comics that’s perfect for graphic novel readers, writers, and of course, aspiring comics artists. This new classic is a must-have for readers of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Lynda Barry’s Making Comics. Sarah Shay Mirk and Eleri Mai Harris, award-winning graphic journalists and longtime editors of the critically acclaimed graphic journalism site the Nib, have compiled the perfect field guide to graphic journalism while showcasing valuable skills and practices for creating nonfiction comics. Mixing comics, prose, infographics, illustrations, and interviews with some of the world’s most influential nonfiction comics creators, Harris and Mirk introduce readers to nonfiction visual stories while also articulating the standards and ethics around blending traditional journalism with the visual language of comics.

Date: 

This is an online talk that lasts for an hour on October 27 from 4-5pm PST/7-8pm EST. It is free to attend but donations to Crucial are welcome to support our work. RSVP for the free Zoom link. Everyone who registers will be invited to join our Discord, where people can share their own comics and connect with community.

About the authors: 

Aubrey Hirsch (she/her) is the author of Why We Never Talk About Sugar, a short story collection, and This Will Be His Legacy, a flash fiction chapbook. Her comics, essays, and stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vox, The Nib, TIME Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and an Individual Artist Award from the Sustainable Arts foundation. You can learn more about her at aubreyhirsch.com.

Eleri Harris (she/her) is an Eisner Award–winning cartoonist, journalist and editor working on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country in Canberra, Australia. For a decade she was features editor at the Nib, where her work received an Eisner Award, two Ignatz Awards, a Ringo Award, and two Comic Art Awards of Australia. Eleri is the author of the children’s book A Loo of One’s Own: The Mostly True Story of Australia’s First Female Parliamentarians (Allen & Unwin 2025). She loves drawing tiny pictures in her studio at Gorman House Arts Centre, nerding out over fancy drawings and building sweet comics communities.

Sarah Shay Mirk (they/she) is a graphic journalist, editor, and teacher. They are the author of Guantanamo Voices (Abrams ComicArts, 2020), which received a starred Kirkus review and was named a Best Book of 2020 by the New York Times. They were a contributing editor at graphic journalism website the Nib, where they wrote and edited nonfiction comics, including Be Gay Do Comics, which won the 2020 Ignatz for Best Anthology. They also cowrote the investigative comics series In/Vulnerable, illustrated by Thi Bui, which won an RFK Human Rights Award for Journalism in 2021. Shay is the publisher at Crucial Comix.