In SevenDaysVT, Signs of the Times: My Neighbor Debra on Protesting Again

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.

In July: Coming of Age Comics at CCS

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!

Telling the story of Ten thousand Years of Agriculture in Burlington's Intervale

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.

Book Tour and Press

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!

Book Trailer!

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.

Call of Kinnaru in Burlington Dec 1

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.

A week at the Vermont Studio Center

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.

1177 BC A Graphic History: Pre-Order Now!

Pre-Order now through your local bookstore (mine is Phoenix Books in Burlington) and they’ll know they need to stock the book.

After more than two years of drawing maps, ancient art, imagined scenes of cities, ships, and battles, I’m excited to share this book with the world. The Late Bronze Age has never been more alive and in full color as it will be in April 2024! Arriving together with Eric Cline’s sequel, After 1177 BC!

Praise: “This funny, beautiful book is a tour de force of visual storytelling. Glynnis Fawkes’s stunning graphic rendition of 1177 B.C. amplifies Eric Cline’s landmark work without simplifying the historical questions that remain. From the mysterious Sea Peoples to garrulous hippos, the Late Bronze Age comes alive on the page.”—Josephine Quinn, author of How the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History

Making of graphic 1177 BC talk with the Vermont Humanities Council

Nov 2, 2022, Brownell Library, Essex Junction, VT, 7 PM

This talk is a preview of the pages I’ve drawn, and a glimpse into the process of interpreting Eric Cline’s 1177 BC The Year Civilization Collapsed in comics.

Creating this talk sent me on yet another round of edits and revisions, and there will be more to come. I’ve drawn and lettered about 144 pages so far, and there are about 100 left to go before the deadline in February. One of my favorite parts of making this book is imagining the scenes and the people who lived in the Late Bronze Age. And then it came to an end!

Watch the talk (courtesy of The Vermont Humanities Council and The Media Factory).

Creating MiddleGrade and YA Comics Summer '22 at CCS!

For the 3rd year in a row, and for the first time IN PERSON, Jo Knowles and I will be leading a week-long workshop on creating YA and MG comics at CCS in White River Junction, VT. EVEN on ZOOM this week left me feeling exhilarated, so I can’t wait to experience comics making together in the same room—being able to hop out to nearby cafes for breaks and lunch. As anxious as making plans to travel may feel at this point—I’m out of practice– the anticipation of this week dedicated to generating story ideas, workshopping projects, and gaining a community of peers eases these fears.

Wether you have an idea for a graphic novel, or a project already in progress, or even wonder about how to compose in panels, pages, and spreads—or know someone who does— consider spending this week at a spa for YA/MG comics! It’s also a chance to gain a short- term taste of life at CCS —the sound of trains rolling through the junction, and glorious immersion in making comics. Sign up here.

Most Costly Journey-Vermont Folklife Center

I’m proud to have contributed The Story of Ana to this anthology of stories of migrant farm workers in Vermont, and so pleased with printed collection. Each comic was originally printed as a pamphlet in Spanish and distributed among migrant workers, in order to share stories, make connections between people, and to ease the sense of isolation they might have while working far from home.

More Details about the book and how to order here.

Listen to a discussion about the project on Vermont Pubic Radio.

Special thanks to Andy Kolovos!

Sustainable Art Foundation Award

This award will help support the Middle Grade Graphic adventure I’m currently working on as well as a memoir.

The Sustainable Arts Foundation supports writers an artists with children.

From the 2020 award announcement: “Chosen from a field of nearly 1,800 applicants, these twenty artists and writers come from eighteen U.S. cities, Costa Rica, and Turkey; they are parenting thirty-four children. The world closed down while we were reviewing their portfolios, but their creativity opened the world back up to us. We are now all the more eager for the day when we can return to bookstores, galleries, museums, libraries and all the other vibrant spaces where art happens. We hope you will seek out their work.”

I applied for this award many times over the years, gave up for a while, and early this year applied again. Grant applications are a way to describe and focus my projects for myself—as well as a jury. Most of my applications have not been successful—it’s amazing when they are. I’m so grateful for this support, especially now.

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