Comics Retreat

James Sturm is a cartoonist and the cofounder of The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS), where he serves as the director and editor of CCS’s graphic guide series. 

Sturm's writings and illustrations have appeared in many publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Slate, The Paris Review, The Onion, The New York Times, and on the cover of The New Yorker. 

Mr. Sturm was a 2020-21 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow and a 2008 and 2015 MacDowell Colony Fellow.

Learn more about James Sturm.

Stacey Robinson is a graphic novelist, curator, DJ, and Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Studio at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The influence of science fiction, Black liberation politics, and comic books fuels Stacey’s multimedia practice. 

Mr. Robinson was a 2019-2020 Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research who completed his MFA at SUNY Buffalo. Books include: I Am Alfonso Jones from Lee & Low Books, written by Tony Medina and Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre from Abrams Books, written by Alverne Ball. 

Learn more and follow @staceyarobinson: Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

James Kilgore is an activist and writer based in Urbana, Illinois. He is the Director of Advocacy and Outreach for First Followers Reentry Program in Champaign, Illinois and a Building Community Power Fellow for Community Justice. He was a co-founder and leader of Build Programs, Not Jails, which led an eight-year fight to stop a jail building project in Champaign County. 

Mr. Kilgore is the author of six books, four of which he drafted during his 6.5 years in prison in California. His most recent book, The Warehouse, is a visual primer on mass incarceration. 

James is the father of two sons, grandfather of three girls, and the life partner of Teresa Barnes, a history professor at UIUC.

Sam Smith, a trained social worker, is a long-time member of the local Champaign-Urbana and campus community and a father of three. He currently works as the Director of Civic Engagement and Social Practice at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. This position originated as the engagement mission of national performing arts centers has grown to work more intentionally with pressing social issues and in challenged communities. 

Sam develops and participates in projects and initiatives that extend the impact of the Center, the technologies of the performing arts, and the resources and expertise of the arts and culture sector. His interests include juvenile justice, child welfare, expressive arts, international engagement, and applied theater.