We are pleased to announce that both Barbara Yelin and Emmie Arbel have been awarded the prestigious “Against Forgetting – For Democracy” prize for 2025 by Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie e. V. (Against Forgetting – For Democracy). The prize honours their collaborative work on the graphic novel Emmie Arbel. The Colour of Memory. The […]

We are delighted to announce that graphic artist Barbara Yelin is the winner of the 2025 annual Grand Prize of the German Academy for Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Deutsche Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur), granted in recognition for outstanding achievements in children and young adult literature. Grand Prize poster from the German Academy for […]

Exciting news! Author Duncan McCue and illustrator Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, from our Turtle Island Cluster, are collaborating with Professor Éléonore Goldberg and Alan Goldman of Emily Carr University of Art + Design—along with their student researchers—to explore how the graphic novel Indians Do Cry can be brought to life through animation. Éléonore has been accepted as a SSHRC Co-applicant on the SCVN […]

Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives (SCVN) proudly announces a significant milestone in the project: the signing of a publishing deal with Swift Water Books for Indians Do Cry: A Father-Son Hockey Story. The graphic novel has come out of a partnership between Anishinaabe journalist Duncan McCue and acclaimed artist Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, in collaboration with residential school survivor […]

On October 13, the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities hosted a panel and workshop featuring members of SCVN’s Rwanda Research Cluster titled ‘Community Engagement and Intercultural Sensitivity: Ethics, Design and Practice’. It was led by Dr. Fransiska Louwagie and featured three speakers with backgrounds in ethnographic research: Drs. Anna Ball, Erin Jessee, and […]

In September 2025, Jonathan Sandler, host of the GraphicMemoirBlog and author of The English GI (2022), interviewed SCVN graphic artist Miriam Libicki in a blog feature titled ‘A Conversation with Miriam Libicki: WWII Graphic Memoirs’. They discussed her previous SCVN collaboration with Barbara Yelin, Gilad Seliktar, and Dr. Charlotte Schallié in But I Live: Three […]

On October 23, SCVN’s project partner the Wiener Library is hosting a talk to explore how graphic novels have proven to be a powerful medium for sharing stories of the Holocaust and other genocides and mass atrocities.   A panel discussion will reveal those lessons are currently being applied in the creation of new survivor-centered […]

The trailer for the upcoming documentary short film, ‘Why We Dance’, has just been released and is available to view on the SCVN YouTube channel. Filmed and directed by Marc Ellison, it features conversations between Jerome Irankunda, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and Michel Kichka, an artist who is […]

After thoughtful consideration, our Yezidi survivor Jilan (not her real name), decided to participate anonymously in the documentary film about her collaboration with the graphic artist, Birgit Weyhe. The filming took place on July 1 and 2 and Filmmaker Olaf Markmann and Research Consultant Leyla Ferman coordinated and outlined a filming schedule. The first day […]

David Schaffer z”l It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of David Schaffer z”l —devoted husband of Sidi, beloved father of Nathan, Doron, and Ayal, and proud grandfather of Joelle, Dalia, Aaron, Jacob, Paulina, Naomi, Madison, Zachary, and Joshua. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his entire family. David Schaffer at the […]

This interview introduces Michel Kichka and Joëlle Epée Mandengue, the two artists working on the survivor-centered graphic novels within the Rwanda Research Cluster of the SCVN project. In April 2025, they met online for a conversation facilitated by Dr. Anna Ball, an Advanced Research Fellow supporting the Rwanda team based at the University of Aberdeen. […]

Guest blog feature by Elissa Boghosian On June 19 and 20, 2025, project partners from the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Iraq and Syria Research Cluster hosted a two-day Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Amsterdam for the Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives project. The AGM was preceded by a public event on […]

As noted above, on July 15, the Friends of Simon Wisenthal Center for Holocaust Studies will host a webinar titled “The ‘Two Roses’ Project: Arts-Based Storytelling and the Holocaust”, introducing the forthcoming graphic novel sharing the extraordinary story of Toronto-based Holocaust survivor Rose Lipszyc to the public. The program will open with an introduction to […]

The Turtle Island Research Cluster has completed filming their short documentary film, ‘Kokum Dorothy’s Story’, directed by Andy Rutter. The film features conversations between residential school survivor Dorothy (Sekan) Visser (nee Whiskeyjack, Cree) and Métis illustrator Natasha Donovan as they discuss their upcoming graphic novel, ‘We Can Still Sing and Dance: Kokum Dorothy’s Story.’ More information and […]

How Can Visual Narratives Disrupt Traditional Conceptions of Testimony? From January to November 2024, the University of British Columbia’s Public Humanities Hub co-hosted the Art and Testimony webinar series with the University of Victoria’s Survivor-Centered Visual Narratives project. The series brought together researchers, artists, historians, non-profit directors and other professionals to discuss how different mediums […]