Graphic Mundi, an imprint of Penn State University Press, had two graphic novels published in its first year included on national year-end "best of” lists. "COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology" has been named one of the Best Graphic Novels of 2021 by the Washington Post and "Crude: A Memoir" was listed by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books of the Year.
"COVID Chronicles," edited by Kendra Boileau and Rich Johnson, is a collection of comics about the COVID-19 pandemic. The book launched the Graphic Mundi imprint in February 2021. "Crude" is a nonfiction graphic novel written by Ecuadorian lawyer and activist Pablo Fajardo about the devastation Texaco inflicted on the Amazon and the region’s residents.
“It is gratifying to see these two books selected as ‘best of’ titles for 2021,” says Graphic Mundi Publisher Kendra Boileau. “'Crude' brings to light the unresolved fight against Big Oil by reparations-seeking Amazonian Indigenous groups, while the short comics in 'COVID Chronicles' document a different kind of battle — not against a supermajor like Chevron, but against a submicroscopic virus that continues to plague us on a global scale. These are stories worth telling, and ones that resonate strongly in the comics medium. My thanks go to the immensely talented creators of these works, for it takes a certain kind of vision to see the possibility of change—or even of survival.”
Graphic Mundi publishes books for adults and young adults that explore important and timely topics such as health and human rights, politics, the environment, science, and technology. The imprint has also this month announced a seven-member advisory board composed of neuroscientist and author Matteo Farinella, graphic journalist Sarah Mirk, health sciences librarian Matthew Noe, public health advocate and writer Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Graphic Medicine pioneer Susan Squier, educator and cartoonist Whit Taylor, and PositiveNegatives founder Benjamin Worku-Dix. To learn more about Graphic Mundi, visit https://www.graphicmundi.org/.