Cartoons have evolved since their Sunday-edition comic strip days. With the popularity of graphic novels on the rise, visual storytelling is becoming ever more sophisticated. In this episode, our hosts talk with the cartoonist Ebony Flowers about her journey, motivation, and process as she marries drawing with the written word.

This episode was recorded on June 22, 2023.

Released on September 21, 2023.

Episode Transcript

Guest

Ebony Flowers is a cartoonist and ethnographer who earned a PhD in curriculum and instruction. Her most recent book, Hot Comb (Drawn and Quarterly, 2019), is a collection of stories about Black women’s hair, and her creative fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and Paris Review. She is currently editing her second book, tentatively titled Baltimore Brownfield (Drawn and Quarterly, forthcoming). As a Radcliffe fellow, Flowers worked on a multimodal graphic novel that will be read through both sight and touch.

Related Content

Ebony Flowers: Fellowship Biography

Ebony Flowers: Personal Website

Hot Comb

Paris Review: My Lil Sister Lena

Credits

Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial lead at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine.

Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI.

Jeff Hayash is a freelance sound engineer and recordist.

Marcus Knoke is a multimedia intern at HRI, a Harvard College student, and the general manager of Harvard Radio Broadcasting.

Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI.

Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI.

Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.