In this extended conversation, illustrator, educator, and author Jonathan Hill joins S.W. Conser for an extra 20 minutes of discussion during the 2020 Portland Book Festival.
Jonathan shares more stories about his artistic influences, family adventures, mission to inspire the next generation, appreciation for Big Trouble in Little China, and his first solo graphic novel Odessa, a coming-of-age tale set in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Ginny Crane, the young protagonist of Odessa who echoes Hill's own Vietnamese-American heritage, finds herself at the heart of an odyssey that reveals not just her own ingenuity but also the dark potential of a dystopian America.
Jonathan has been instrumental in making the art form of comics more visible through his work with Literary Arts' annual Portland Book Festival. He's taught at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art, and collaborated with writer M.K. Reed on two graphic novels, Americus and Wild Weather.
The original broadcast version of this episode can be found at this link.
- KBOO