Josh Tuininga is an author, artist, and designer. After studying fine art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he founded an art and design agency where he works as creative director. His work has been published in the magazines Communication Arts and HOW Design. Tuininga is the author of the children’s book Why Blue? and Dream On. We Are Not Strangers is his first graphic novel.

Despite the graphic novel’s skyrocketing popularity, many still view the art form as unsophisticated or less credible than traditional forms of literature. In this talk, comic artist Josh Tuininga shows how comic books and graphic novels are not only powerful art forms but have unique abilities to challenge young readers in surprising ways and can help prepare students for a rapidly changing future. 

Tuininga traces the origins of sequential art — exploring the art form’s evolution and its impact on readers and culture throughout history. He also shares an in-depth look at the sequential art process as he presents his graphic novel, We Are Not Strangers — a true family story that follows a Jewish immigrant’s efforts to help his Japanese-American neighbors while they are incarcerated during World War II.