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“1970s London, late one night at a block of flats… CAMDEN TOWN SQUAT by Ellen Beier / “‘We were called every name in the book, but it was that era.’* *Quotes from ‘My Life as a London Squatter and the Windsor Free Festival blog.” Three silhouettes stand outside of a house at night; someone stands in the window. “Squatting was a big issue in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. Here, we weren’t peasants,…just artists, musicians, wanderers. Many London houses were empty and designated ‘condemned’ by the council. Common lore said that heat and light had to be available to an empty council house claimed as a squat.” A person scales the wall of a house at night; someone crawls through a window. A hand pulls the pull switch of a light bulb, turning it on. Three silhouettes walk through a doorway. “’Like most young people we were discovering by trial and error who we were.’” “Houses built in the 19th century were no longer up to code—there was inadequate plumbing and many lacked appliances such as refrigerators. We kept food cold on the windowsill.” “There was a heating unit we fed with 5-penny pieces over a sink in the kitchen, and a cold-water sink in the stairwell. Most fireplaces had a gas heater installed, also fed with coins.” A heating unit. A sink. A fireplace. “There was an outhouse out back—not awful—except in heavy rain.” A woman runs through a doorway headed for an outhouse in heavy rain. “‘If you were not establishment then you were trots or a marx or a man or something or other…labels!’” “My room was on the 3rd floor in the back, overlooking the outhouse, a stone wall, and the park behind. In the room next to mine, the band that I lived with practiced—a gaggle of Scottish boys, musicians down from the north like the Beatles. I’d draw while they played music.” A woman sketches stars in her bed. A band of 3 men, Gunn Lilly, play music, singing, “I don’t own the clothes I’m wearing and the road goes on forever…” “‘On the news today was a report that working class kids are no better off than they were in the 50s, in terms of their prospects for social mobility.’” “Hendrix, Doors, Allman Bros…the music we listened to in the evenings. There was hashish, LSD.” Four young people sit playing music (a harmonica, two guitars, bongo drums) together. Stars and moon decorate the background. “By days we worked—me a part-time draftsperson and cook, one musician a welder, others in construction.” Three silhouettes wait at a bus stop next to a corrugated wall covered with graffiti that reads “Spread Anarchy” crossed out, followed by “Don’t tell me what to do!!” A window is covered with graffiti of a star and the text “Power to the people” “After a couple of years, we were told the block was coming down and we were evicted. Some band members joined the Hare Krishna temple; the rest of us moved to a regular townhouse.” “‘Most people come here because they’ve got nowhere else to go. They can’t fit into whatever society’s got to offer.’” “Fourteen years later I returned to the street—the remodel had just begun! Workers let me go inside and look around—flats were renovated from the inside, given kitchens and bathrooms and sunrooms. New windows, electricity, plumbing.” A townhome under construction. A singing bird next to a nest full of eggs. Birds in flight above the apartment/townhome building. Someone stands in a balcony, looking down. “A few years later the street was bustling with signs of life, families, children playing. Today Camden flats are prized real estate—sought after, posh even—you’d be lucky to get one even on a waiting list!” A bird stands on a for sale sign in front of the flats. A little girl rides a tricycle. “‘Is it a fundamental right that humans should have shelter?’”
“1970s London, late one night at a block of flats… CAMDEN TOWN SQUAT by Ellen Beier / “‘We were called every name in the book, but it was that era.’* *Quotes from ‘My Life as a London Squatter and the Windsor Free Festival blog.” Three silhouettes stand outside of a house at night; someone stands in the window. “Squatting was a big issue in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. Here, we weren’t peasants,…just artists, musicians, wanderers. Many London houses were empty and designated ‘condemned’ by the council. Common lore said that heat and light had to be available to an empty council house claimed as a squat.” A person scales the wall of a house at night; someone crawls through a window. A hand pulls the pull switch of a light bulb, turning it on. Three silhouettes walk through a doorway. “’Like most young people we were discovering by trial and error who we were.’” “Houses built in the 19th century were no longer up to code—there was inadequate plumbing and many lacked appliances such as refrigerators. We kept food cold on the windowsill. There was a heating unit we fed with 5-penny pieces over a sink in the kitchen, and a cold-water sink in the stairwell. Most fireplaces had a gas heater installed, also fed with coins.” A heating unit. A sink. A fireplace. “There was an outhouse out back—not awful—except in heavy rain.” A woman runs through a doorway headed for an outhouse in heavy rain. “‘If you were not establishment then you were trots or a marx or a man or something or other…labels!’” “My room was on the 3rd floor in the back, overlooking the outhouse, a stone wall, and the park behind. In the room next to mine, the band that I lived with practiced—a gaggle of Scottish boys, musicians down from the north like the Beatles. I’d draw while they played music.” A woman sketches stars in her bed. A band of 3 men, Gunn Lilly, play music, singing, “I don’t own the clothes I’m wearing and the road goes on forever…” “‘On the news today was a report that working class kids are no better off than they were in the 50s, in terms of their prospects for social mobility.’” “Hendrix, Doors, Allman Bros…the music we listened to in the evenings. There was hashish, LSD.” Four young people sit playing music (a harmonica, two guitars, bongo drums) together. Stars and moon decorate the background. “By days we worked—me a part-time draftsperson and cook, one musician a welder, others in construction.” Three silhouettes wait at a bus stop next to a corrugated wall covered with graffiti that reads “Spread Anarchy” crossed out, followed by “Don’t tell me what to do!!” A window is covered with graffiti of a star and the text “Power to the people” “After a couple of years, we were told the block was coming down and we were evicted. Some band members joined the Hare Krishna temple; the rest of us moved to a regular townhouse. ‘Most people come here because they’ve got nowhere else to go. They can’t fit into whatever society’s got to offer.’” “Fourteen years later I returned to the street—the remodel had just begun! Workers let me go inside and look around—flats were renovated from the inside, given kitchens and bathrooms and sunrooms. New windows, electricity, plumbing.” A townhome under construction. A singing bird next to a nest full of eggs. Birds in flight above the apartment/townhome building. Someone stands in a balcony, looking down. “A few years later the street was bustling with signs of life, families, children playing. Today Camden flats are prized real estate—sought after, posh even—you’d be lucky to get one even on a waiting list!” A bird stands on a for sale sign in front of the flats. A little girl rides a tricycle. “‘Is it a fundamental right that humans should have shelter?’”

Author: Adam Rosenblatt
Adam Rosenblatt lives in Durham, North Carolina, where he works as a professor of International Comparative Studies and Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, draws comics, and sometimes tries to combine the two. He is the author of Cemetery Citizens: Reclaiming Buried Pasts and Working for Justice in American Burial Grounds (Stanford University Press, 2024) and a co-founder of the Durham Black Burial Grounds Collaboratory. You can read more about his academic work at https://scholars.duke.edu/person/Adam.Rosenblatt, and see more comics and drawings at https://www.instagram.com/researchcartoonist/.
Website: https://www.instagram.com/researchcartoonist/
Author: Amihan Krystal de Leon
Amihan de Leon is a woodland creature who–through her official correspondence with the tooth fairy in childhood–nurtured a passion for diverse forms of art, music, and stories. She hopes to imbue whimsy, wildness, and sparkle in her storytelling across mediums so people can experience the same magic that shaped her.
Website: http://amihankrystal.com
Author: Christa Clark
Christa Clark is an emerging illustrator and comic artist based in Southern Ontario, Canada. She resides with her husband, two children, and a very cute axolotl. Christa is currently honing her craft in the Year-Long Program at the Sequential Artists' Workshop (SAW). Follow on Instagram @christacclark, and her website below:
Website: http://www.christaclark.ca
Author: CJ Wu
CJ Wu is a Chinese comic artist currently residing in Sydney, Australia. CJ creates autobiographical comics about life's little joys and struggles. Besides making comics, CJ writes apps, teaches Polish, and very occasionally burps. Find CJ @cjmakescomics
Website: https://cjwu.substack.com
Author: Dana Cox
Dana Cox is a comic artist and illustrator from Los Angeles, California. She makes comics primarily about her own life, but also sometimes about grocery stores. Her comic, "Fullerton" was nominated for best comic zine of 2023 by Broken Pencil Magazine. She finds existence perplexing, startling, and often upsetting. If you go for a walk together, she’s probably gonna point out a dog, a bird, or a plant and make you look at it.
Author: Ellen Beier
Ellen started drawing at age four by the side of her artist/sculptor grandmother. After a career illustrating children’s books, she is working on a NF graphic novel based on a discovery in 19th-century Spain. Her comic in this anthology is a short dive into memoir.
Website: https://www.ellenbeier.com
Author: Emily Zilber
Emily Zilber is a cartoonist, writer, and illustrator. Her comics and visual essays focus on caretaking, artistic and curatorial labor, nurturing creativity, living in a body, parenting, and mental health. Her work has been published through MUTHA Magazine and the Sequential Artists Workshop. Find more of her work @emilyzilberdraws and her website below.
Website: https://www.emilyzilber.com
Author: Galina
Galina has an approximate knowledge of many things, including but not limited to making comics, writing software, and making comics adjacent to writing software. Her birth certificate holds a record of a [country that no longer exists] but the current geographical land is known as Kazakhstan. She currently resides between the coasts of the United States.
Website: https://www.instagram.com/notinthemoodforcomfort/
Author: Jen Grisard Ludwig
This much is true. Jen Grisard Ludwig spent the first half of her life in Cleveland, Ohio, always interested in and studying art. She flew the coop to San Diego, California in pursuit of happiness. Still defining it for herself, happiness currently includes her supportive husband, her spicy friends, her silly beagle… and of course her very necessary art (drawing, painting, writing, and all-around-making). Jen creates and shows paintings around Southern California, teaches adult art classes, and hopes to continue hatching (and consuming!) comics in perpetuity. Find her online @artistjenart
Website: http://www.jen-grisard-ludwig.com
Author: Jessica Pavone
Jessica K Pavone is a cartoonist, an illustrator, and an occasional painter. She lives in Washington, DC. @drolldoodles
Website: https://www.instagram.com/drolldoodles/
Author: Martha Kuhlman
Martha Kuhlman is Professor of Comparative Literature in the Department of History, Literature, and Art at Bryant University where she teaches courses on the graphic novel, Central European literature, and Creativity. She coedited The Comics of Chris Ware: Drawing is a Way of Thinking with the University Press of Mississippi (2010) with Dave Ball, and Comics of the New Europe (2020) with Leuven University Press, and her articles have appeared in The Journal of Popular Culture, European Comic Art, and The Comparatist. In addition to her academic publications, she reviews contemporary graphic narratives, translates comics from Czech to English, and is currently enrolled in the Sequential Arts Workshop, an international online school for making comics.
Website: https://bryant.academia.edu/MarthaKuhlman
Author: Mwandeyi Kamwendo
Mwandeyi is a narrative artist based in Washington, D.C. She loves exploring story through shape, line, and character. She uses a combined approach of studio fine art and character-driven drawing to capture the dynamic histories of worlds similar to our own.
Website: https://www.instagram.com/kmwnd.co/
Author: Rachel Alatalo
Rachel Alatalo is a writer-turned-comic artist based in Boston, MA. A student of the SAW Year Long Comics Program, they share comics about mental health, chronic illness, and cats on Substack and on Instagram @misc.rachel.
Website: https://miscrachel.substack.com/
Author: Shannon Azzato
Shannon Azzato's work explores the complexities of mind and memory against the backdrop of an often-nomadic life. A former English professor, she is a concept consultant, literary coach, and editor for books, graphic novels, and other media. She can be found at www.shannonazzatostephens.com.
Website: http://www.shannonazzatostephens.com
Author: Sofia Palma
Sofia Palma is a Portuguese cartoonist based in China, where she works as an art educator. Sofia makes comics inspired by her personal experiences, often portraying her close friends and family. You can usually spot her with a small handmade sketchbook and pen in hand, always ready to draw the world around her.
Website: https://cargocollective.com/sofiapalma/
Author: Thony Aiuppy
Thony Aiuppy is a visual artist, cartoonist, zinester, and storyteller. For more than a decade, Thony has worked as an art educator with learners of all ages. His comics have been featured in various independent comic anthologies. He lives and works in Jacksonville, Florida.
Website: http://aiuppy.com
Tags: Graphic Memoir, history, informational, non-fiction, Place
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