Congratulations to all Eisner Award nominees! Good luck to Emma Hunsinger ’20, Lucy Knisley ’09, and Tillie Walden ’16 who have all been nominated for Eisner Awards. Despite the cancellation of comic conventions this year, the Eisner Award nominees were recently announced, so all you comic professionals need to get in there and vote for your favorites at www.eisnervote.com. All professionals in the comic book industry are eligible to vote by June 18, and results will be announced in July.

Best Short Story

“How to Draw a Horse,” by Emma Hunsinger, published in The New Yorker, was written for a CCS non-fiction class assignment. The comic focuses on a young girl’s fascination with drawing horses in an attempt to be noticed by a classmate. She remarks on how difficult it is for artists to draw horses, and how equally difficult it is for her to understand her feelings towards her classmate. 

Best Reality-Based Work

In Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, by Lucy Knisley (First Second/Macmillan), the story follows Lucy through her pregnancy, transitioning into motherhood. As with many of her stories, she also looks at related history and science, curious facts inspiring figures. Lucy is the creator of  the New York Times bestseller Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, and Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride. Relish was a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2013 and an NPR Best Book of 2013, and won the American Library Association Alex Award. It was also featured as a New York Times best-seller and Goodreads top book of the year.

Best Graphic Album—New and Best Lettering

In Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden (First Second/Macmillan), a magical realism story, Bea is on the run when she runs into Lou. To stay safe, Bea and Lou must trust each other as they are driven to confront buried truths. The two women share their stories of loss and heartbreak—and a startling revelation about sexual assault. In 2016, her second graphic novel I Love This Part (US: Retrofit, UK: Avery Hill Publishing, 2016) was nominated for the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue/One-Shot. Spinning (First Second) won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work. On a Sunbeam was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic.

And BEST ANTHOLOGY double nominations for Eleri Harris ’14 (art/writing/editing) with Kuš! and as deputy editor of THE NIB.

Tags: Are You Listening, Eisner nominees, Emma Hunsinger, How To Draw A Horse, Kid Gloves, Lucy Knisley, Tillie Walden