March 28, 2017

Event date: –

Thursday, April 6
Appointment of Vermont Cartoonist Laureate
With the reading of a resolution on the Vermont State House floor, Alison Bechdel will be appointed Vermont Cartoonist Laureate. Assembly convenes at 1pm

Presentation of Laurels
with Cartoonist Laureate Alison Bechdel
Thursday, April 6, 4pm, at The Center for Cartoon Studies. 

Montpelier, Vermont-Bolton, Vermont resident Alison Bechdel will become Vermont’s third cartoonist laureate on Thursday, April 6, 2017, when she will be recognized on the Vermont State House floor. Vermont is the only state that regularly appoints a cartoonist laureate.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Peter Welch, Vermont’s congressional delegation, said in a joint statement, “We applaud The Center for Cartoon Studies’ choice of Alison Bechdel to serve as Vermont’s next cartoonist laureate. For three decades, Ms. Bechdel’s talents have been well known to Vermonters, and we have proudly watched her achieve the national acclaim she deserves. Her scope of work – from books to Broadway – has added to our national discourse. Congratulations to Alison Bechdel for continuing another unique tradition that sets Vermont apart.”

Alison Bechdel’s self-syndicated Dykes to Watch Out For (1983 to 2008) became a countercultural institution among lesbians and discerning non-lesbians all over the planet. The award-winning generational chronicle has been called “one of the pre-eminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period.” (Ms. magazine).

In 2006 Bechdel published Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Time magazine named it the “Best Book of 2006,” describing the tightly architected investigation into her closeted bisexual father’s suicide “a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other.” Fun Home was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award. It has been adapted into a musical by the playwright Lisa Kron and the composer Jeanine Tesori. It opened on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theater on April 19, 2015, to positive reviews, and won five Tony Awards, including “Best Musical.”

Alison’s comics have appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, McSweeney’s, The New York Times Book Review, Seven Days, and Granta. She won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012, and in 2014 was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Burlington’s  James Kolchalka and Brookfield’s Ed Koren were the state’s first two cartoonist laureates respectively. Despite its small size, Vermont has had a disproportionately large impact on contemporary cartooning. In addition to The Center for Cartoon Studies, celebrated cartoonists Stephen Bissette, Harry Bliss, Glynnis Fawkes, Iona Fox, David Libens, Rachel Lindsay, Liniers, Luke Howard, Jon Chadurjian, Jason Lutes, James Sturm, Rick Veitch, and Sophie Yanow all call Vermont home.

Following the State House recognition, a presentation of Laurels with Cartoonist Laureate Alison Bechdel at The Center for Cartoon Studies, Post Office campus building, 4pm, 46 South Main Street in White River Junction, Vermont. The event is free and open to the public but limited seating available. Click here to reserve a seat and for more information.

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Established in 2005, The Center for Cartoon Studies has played a crucial role in the revitalization of White River Junction, with an economic impact of over $20 million to the State. The school brings students to Vermont from across the country and around the world, including Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Ireland. Since its inception, hundreds of visiting artists, including many of the biggest names in comics and publishing, have made their way to Vermont to conduct workshops and give lectures, including Lynda Barry, Kate Beaton, Jules Feiffer, Jeff Kinney, Jonathan Lethem, Art Spiegelman, Garry Trudeau, Chris Ware, and Mo Willems. For more information, visit cartoonstudies.org. For more information, visit cartoonstudies.org.