Visiting Writers Series: Andrew Aydin, National Book Award Winner

Andrew Aydin is a National Book Award winner, a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Honoree, a Printz Award winner, a Sibert Medal winner, a Walter Dean Myers Award winner, a two-time Eisner award winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors.

He is creator and co-author of the graphic memoir series, “March,” which chronicles the life of the late civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis. Co-authored with Rep. Lewis and illustrated by Nate Powell, “March” is the first comics work to ever win the National Book Award.

An Atlanta native, Aydin is a Turkish-American who was raised by a single mother and grew up reading comic books. After college, he took a job with Congressman Lewis as digital director and policy advisor. In 2008, Congressman Lewis mentioned to him the 1957 comic book “Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story” and the role it played in the early days of the civil rights movement. Recognizing the potential for a comic on Congressman Lewis’ life to inspire young people, Aydin urged him to write a comic about his time in the movement, but Congressman Lewis had one condition: that Aydin write it with him. Collaborating with artist Nate Powell, the “March” trilogy was born in 2013.

Aydin frequently lectures at schools and universities and participates in reading programs with incarcerated youth. He is the co-writer of The March virtual reality immersive experience produced by Time, Inc and released in 2020. Some of his comic works include the Captain America story “Home of the Brave” in Marvel Comics Presents #3 from Marvel Comics, Truth and Justice #6, Batman: Gotham Nights #16 and Titans Together #3 from DC Comics as well as the 2020 Battle for the Vote comic PSA produced in partnership with Rock the Vote. His prose works include articles for the Atlanta alt-weekly Creative Loafing and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance Magazine.

Admission is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.