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Andrew Aydin | |
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 Aydin at a book signing for March: Book One at Midtown Comics in Manhattan | |
| Born | August 25, 1983 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation(s) | Political aide, Graphic novelist |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (2017) [1] |
Andrew Aydin (born August 25, 1983) is an American comics writer, known as the Digital Director & Policy Advisor to Georgia congressman John Lewis, and co-author, with Lewis, of March , Lewis' #1 New York Times bestselling [2] autobiographical graphic novel trilogy.
Aydin was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended the Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia, earned a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College and a Master of Arts in public policy from Georgetown University., [3] [4]
After college, Aydin served as District Aide to Representative John B. Larson (D-CT) and as Special Assistant to Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Kevin Sullivan.
In 2007, Aydin began working for Georgia congressman John Lewis. In the summer of 2008, while on Rep. Lewis' reelection campaign, Aydin learned that Lewis had been inspired as a young man by a classic 1950s comic book, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story . They discussed the impact that comic books can have on young readers and soon Aydin had the idea that Lewis should write a comic book about his time in the civil rights movement. Aydin eventually convinced Lewis, who accepted on the condition that Aydin write the comics with him.
Aydin wrote his graduate thesis on the history and impact of Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story. Until 2012, no history of Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story had been written, and most versions of how the comic was created listed Al Capp as the actual creator. As part of his graduate degree at Georgetown University, Aydin wrote the first long-form history of The Montgomery Story as his graduate thesis. With the help of Carlow University Professor Dr. Sylvia Rhor and comic book icon Eddie Campbell, Aydin established most of what we know about the comic's creation and use. In August 2013, Aydin published a shortened version of his thesis as the feature article in Creative Loafing's award-winning "Future of Nonviolence" issue, which was guest-edited by Lewis and Aydin. [5] [6]
Aydin has appeared as a guest on The Rachel Maddow Show , Morning Joe, National Public Radio, CBS This Morning , CNN, and the BBC.
Aydin served as Digital Director & Policy Advisor to Representative Lewis in his Washington, D.C. office until Lewis's passing in 2020.
In August 2013, Top Shelf Productions published the first book in the March trilogy, a black and white graphic novel about the Civil Rights Movement, told through the perspective of Lewis, written by Lewis and Aydin, and illustrated and lettered by Nate Powell. [7] The book had its genesis in Lewis' 2008 reelection campaign, when Lewis told Aydin about The Montgomery Story and its influence on the civil rights movement. [8] Aydin, who had been reading comics since his grandmother bought him a copy of Uncanny X-Men #317 off a Piggly Wiggly spinner rack when he was eight years old, [9] found a digital copy of the book on the Internet and spent years tracking down an original print copy on eBay. The Montgomery Story directly influenced on the creation of March. [10]
President Bill Clinton has said of Congressman Lewis that, through March, "he brings a whole new generation with him across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, from a past of clenched fists into a future of outstretched hands." Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that March is "a very unique way to present what is probably the most important story of my entire lifetime. My hope is that everyone reads this, and I would love to see the day that it is required reading in every school." [11]
March: Book One holds an average 9.4 out of 10 rating at the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, based on five reviews. [12] In addition to receiving positive reviews, [13] [14] it won numerous awards and accolades, [15] [16] [17] was selected for college-level reading lists [18] [19] and by first-year reading programs in 2014 at Michigan State University, Georgia State University, and Marquette University. [20] March: Book One received an "Author Honor" from the American Library Association's 2014 Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Book One also became the first graphic novel to win a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, receiving a "Special Recognition" bust in 2014.
March: Book Two was released in 2015 and became both a New York Times bestseller for paperback graphic novels and Washington Post bestseller for paperback nonfiction books. At San Diego Comic Con in July 2016, March: Book Two won the Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for "Best Reality Based Work."
The release of March: Book Three in August 2016 brought all three volumes into the top 3 slots of the New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels for 6 consecutive weeks. In November 2016, March: Book Three was awarded the National Book Award in Young People's Literature, [21] becoming the first graphic novel to receive a National Book Award. In January 2017, the American Library Association awarded March: Book Three the 2017 Printz Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, and the Sibert Medal. It was the first time a single book won four A.L.A. awards. [22] The trilogy received the Carter G. Woodson Book Award in 2017. [23]
In May 2016, NYC Public Schools announced that the March trilogy was added to the systemwide 8th Grade "Passport to Social Studies" curriculum. [24] In October 2016, Atlanta Public Schools announced the March trilogy's addition to English curriculum. [25]
Aydin and his co-authors on March were recipients of the 2014 Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honor, [26] the 2013 Gem Award (Independent Graphic Novel of the Year), [27] and the 2014 YALSA Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens. [28]
In March 2014 Aydin and his co-authors received a Special Recognition award at the 2014 Robert F. Kennedy Book Awards. [29]
That same year, March was nominated for two Eisner Awards: Best Publication for Teens & Best Reality-Based Work. [30] March was also nominated for two Harvey Awards: Best Graphic Album – Original & Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation. [31]
Colleen Doran is an American writer-artist and cartoonist. She illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, including the autobiographical graphic novel of Marvel Comics editor and writer Stan Lee entitled Amazing Fantastic Incredible Stan Lee, which became a New York Times bestseller. She adapted and did the art for the short story "Troll Bridge" by Neil Gaiman, which also became a New York Times bestseller. Her books have received Eisner, Harvey, Bram Stoker, Locus, and International Horror Guild Awards.
John Robert Lewis was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where, in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
Seymour "Sy" Barry is an American comic-book and comic-strip artist, best known for being the artist of the strip The Phantom for more than three decades.
Svetlana Chmakova is a Russian-Canadian comic book artist. She is best known for Dramacon, an original English-language (OEL) manga spanning three volumes and published in North America by Tokyopop. Her other original work includes Nightschool and Awkward for Yen Press. She has been nominated for an Eisner Award twice. Previously, she created The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic.
Aaron David Lewis is an American comic book and graphic novel writer. He is also a comics scholar focusing on literary theory, religious studies, and graphic medicine.
Nathan Lee Powell is an American graphic novelist and musician. His 2008 graphic novel Swallow Me Whole won an Ignatz Award and Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel. He illustrated the March trilogy, an autobiographical series written by U.S. Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, which received the 2016 National Book Award, making Powell the first cartoonist to receive the award.
Chris Staros is the Editor-in-Chief of the graphic novel publishing company Top Shelf Productions, and also does comics mentoring for aspiring comics professionals at www.chrisstaros.com. He is also the author of Yearbook Stories, 1976–1978, published by Top Shelf.
Gene Luen Yang is an American cartoonist. He is a frequent lecturer on the subjects of graphic novels and comics, at comic book conventions and universities, schools, and libraries. In addition, he was the Director of Information Services and taught computer science at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California. In 2012, Yang joined the faculty at Hamline University as a part of the Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults (MFAC) program. In 2016, the U.S. Library of Congress named him Ambassador for Young People's Literature. That year he became the third graphic novelist, alongside Lauren Redniss, to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.
James Sturm is an American cartoonist and co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. Sturm is also the founder of the National Association of Comics Art Educators (NACAE), an organization committed to helping facilitate the teaching of comics in higher education.
Non-fiction comics, also known as graphic non-fiction, is non-fiction in the comics medium, embracing a variety of formats from comic strips to trade paperbacks.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge carries U.S. Route 80 Business across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama. Built in 1940, it is named after Edmund Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general, U.S. senator, and state-level leader of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. The bridge is a steel through arch bridge with a central span of 250 feet (76 m). Nine large concrete arches support the bridge and roadway on the east side.
The March trilogy is an autobiographical black and white graphic novel trilogy about the civil rights movement, told through the perspective of civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis. The series is written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, and illustrated and lettered by Nate Powell. The first volume, March: Book One, was published in August 2013, by Top Shelf Productions. and the second volume, March: Book Two, was published in January 2015, with both volumes receiving positive reviews. March: Book Three was published in August 2016 along with a slipcase edition of the March trilogy.
The Fifth Beatle is a graphic novel by writer Vivek Tiwary, artist Andrew Robinson, and cartoonist Kyle Baker. It debuted in Italy as part as the tenth anniversary of the country's Rolling Stone magazine and was published by Dark Horse Comics in November 2013.
The history of the 1954 to 1968 American civil rights movement has been depicted and documented in film, song, theater, television, and the visual arts. These presentations add to and maintain cultural awareness and understanding of the goals, tactics, and accomplishments of the people who organized and participated in this nonviolent movement.
Randy DuBurke is an American artist best known as the author and illustrator of the Steptoe Award winning book The Moon Ring (2003) and as the illustrator of Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty (2010). He previously worked as a comic book artist in the 1980s and 1990s.
Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story is a 16-page comic book about Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery bus boycott published in 1957 by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. It advocates the principles of nonviolence and provides a primer on nonviolent resistance.
Alabama literature includes the prose fiction, poetry, films and biographies that are set in or created by those from the US state of Alabama. This literature officially began emerging from the state circa 1819 with the recognition of the region as a state. Like other forms of literature from the Southern United States, Alabama literature often discusses issues of race, stemming from the history of the slave society, the American Civil War, the Reconstruction era and Jim Crow laws, and the US Civil Rights Movement. Alabama literature was inspired by the latter's significant campaigns and events in the state, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Selma to Montgomery marches.
The American Library Association's Great Graphic Novels for Teens, established in 2007, is an annual list presented by Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division of graphic novels and illustrated nonfiction geared toward individuals ages 12–18.
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