The Graphic Novel: Workshop For Writers
Sunday, Feb 22, 2026, TIME – Sunday, June 14, 2026, TIME
Instructors: Elizabeth Bicknell, Eugene Yelchin
Registration opens DATE
Graphic novels are hotter than ever. Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, for older readers or younger ones, editors, teachers, librarians and readers continue to seek out graphic novels that will keep readers engaged and entertained.
Perhaps you’re an author, perhaps you’re an illustrator, perhaps you are able to (or would like to attempt to) do both!
Join faculty member award-winning editor Elizabeth Bicknell, and award-winning author and artist Eugene Yeltsin for this unique opportunity to explore graphic novel writing. Over the course of four months, Elizabeth and Eugene will walk you through the process of writing a graphic novel. You’ll look closely at the genre — both the art and the writing. You’ll brainstorm an idea with both faculty members, and then you will work with both of them to plan your entire story.
If you are an illustrator, you’ll complete this workshop with an outline for the entire book as well as your first fifteen panels.
If you are an author, you’ll complete this workshop with an outline for the entire book, story boards for your first fifteen panels, and a complete manuscript.
This is an intensive workshop, and you will be expected to log about 25-30 hours per month.
Who is this writing workshop for?
Authors who want to explore graphic novel writing.
Authors who have a story for a graphic novel but don’t know how to start.
Illustrators who want to write a graphic novel.
Authors and illustrators who have written graphic novels, but who wish to elevate their craft through mentorship.
Workshop Details
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This course runs over five months and is divided into two parts.
The first part is a five-lecture course of study of the rise to prominence of graphic novels over the last 50 years, with a focus on nonfiction topics, especially biography, politics, and history, both in adult and children’s publishing.
The second part is individual creative work with feedback and suggestions from the course leaders, Liz Bicknell and Eugene Yelchin.
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Liz Bicknell has worked as an editor, publisher, and mentor for more than 30 years. As Executive Editorial Director at Candlewick Press, she acquired and edited books for young readers of all ages, from board books to picture books to graphic novels to YA fiction and nonfiction, working with such luminaries as M. T. Anderson, Lauren Child, Carson Ellis, Ekua Holmes, Jon Klassen, Stephan Pastis, Laura Amy Schlitz, Carole Boston Weatherford, Allan Wolf, and Eugene Yelchin. Books edited by Liz have won a National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Honor, National Jewish Book Award, Coretta Scott King Author Award, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and many others.
Eugene Yelchin is a painter, designer, and a writer and illustrator of books for young readers. His many accolades include a Newbery Honor, National Book Award Finalist, a Sydney Taylor Award, Golden and Crystal Kite Awards, a National Jewish Book Award, and the Tomie DePaola Award. His books have been included in Best Books of the Year lists by the New York Times, People Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today, among others, and have been Ama zon, NPR, Publishers Weekly, etc., and were translated into fourteen languages. With a graduate degree in film production from the University of Southern California, Yelchin teaches screenwriting, character design, and sequential storytelling at the Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. For more information, please visit eugeneyelchin.com.