Vermont Humanities

06/03/2026

This past weekend Tillie Walden, Joel Christian Gill, and Marek Bennett helped us kick off Vermont Reads 2026 at The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction with a special panel discussion about nonfiction comics.

Walden's "Charity and Sylvia" is our Vermont Reads 2026 choice. The trio discussed how they have created comics from historical materials, and then took questions from the full house. We could have stayed all afternoon!

Missed the event? Watch the recording by at: https://bit.ly/vr26-kickoff-may30

05/30/2026

Our Vermont Reads 2026 Kick-Off Panel Discussion with Tillie Walden, Marek Bennett, and Joel Christian Gill is streaming live now on the JAM - Junction Arts & Media YouTube channel:

Kick-off Vermont Reads 2026 with a celebration at the Center for Ca...

05/28/2026

Join us and Vermont Book Award winners and finalists at Camp Meade in Middlesex tomorrow (Friday!) at 4pm...followed by free wine tasting and community concert on the green. Meet us there!

05/28/2026

We’re so thrilled that our popular Words in the Woods program will be returning for a seventh season! Enjoy our state’s natural beauty while listening to and reading literature in the outdoors. We’ll cover the park entrance fees on the day of our events so that you can enjoy a full day at the park.

This summer, we will host five Vermont poets in-person at different Vermont State Parks, beginning with poet Joanne McNeil Hayes at Button Bay State Park in Ferrisburg on June 20.

View the full schedule of Words in the Woods events at: https://bit.ly/wiw-2026

05/28/2026

So chuffed that our Vermont Reads 2026 book, "Charity and Sylvia" by Tillie Walden made this list from NPR!

"Walden builds on an archive of letters, journal entries and various biographical material to offer this moving portrait told in vignettes, most captured as delicately drawn, copper-tinted, nine-panel comics...a rare gem of a book."

Walden will be at The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction this Saturday at 2pm for a free panel discussion about nonfiction comics. Get tickets at: https://bit.ly/walden-wrj-530

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/19/nx-s1-5800893/new-summer-books-2026

A gothic horror tale, a creepy science-fiction romp, a sweeping romance, an intergenerational saga, a book about birds — here are the fiction and nonfiction our critics are most looking forward to.

05/26/2026

Each year, our Fall Festival celebrates National Arts and Humanities Month in October by providing grants for unique community programming.

This year’s Fall Festival 2026: Our Woven History recognizes the hidden history contained in our Vermont Reads 2026 book, Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden, while also commemorating the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding.

We will offer five grants of up to $2,500 each for community organizations interested in hosting an event in October 2026 as part of the festival. Applications will close on June 2, 2026. be sure to check out our website for more info.

05/21/2026

Charity and Sylvia temporary tattoos were just the tip of the iceberg yesterday, as the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History in Middlebury unveiled “Drawing on the Archive,” a new exhibit featuring the work of our Vermont Reads 2026 author, Tillie Walden. It was such a treat to see Tillie’s amazing drawings (including a hidden portrait of our ED, Christopher!) on the walls, along with artifacts from Charity and Sylvia’s life together. The two lived as a married couple in nearby Weybridge in the mid-1800s.

Be sure to swing by Middlebury to see this moving exhibit, which shows how Tillie did research at the Sheldon for her book...and be sure to join Tillie at The Center for Cartoon Studies in WRJ next Saturday, May 30 at 2pm for the official kickoff of Vermont Reads 2026! More about that event at vtreads.org, or on our website.

05/20/2026

Just a reminder that applications for our Summer 2026 Project Grants are due this Wednesday, May 20 before midnight! Awards can be for up to $5000.

In 2025 we awarded $3500 to The Center for Cartoon Studies to develop a comic book about fascism, based on an original Army factsheet on the topic.

Funding enabled the creators to conduct school visits to gather initial feedback on the guide from students and teachers, including at St. Johnsbury Academy and Rutland High School.

Photo provided courtesy of the St. Johnsbury Academy.

05/19/2026

We had such a great time at the Bookstock Literary Festival at the Artistree Community Arts Center in Woodstock on Friday night! Joining us for a panel discussion were Vermont Book Award 2025 Finalists Kristin Dykstra, Sasha Hom, Carlene Kucharczyk, Liniers, Chard deNiord, and Aaron Starmer.

VBA Director Miciah Bay Gault moderated the fascinating discussion with these accomplished Vermont authors. Hom and Kucharczyk were announced as book award winners on May 2.

Our next event with a slightly different group of VBA finalists will be at Camp Meade in Middlesex on May 29. Learn more about that free event here: https://www.vermonthumanities.org/event/vba-2026-camp-meade/

05/15/2026

We loved seeing this article in Seven Days featuring our friend James Sturm from The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction.

"Beyond Punishment: A Guide to Mass Incarceration," is the latest nonfiction comic published by the Applied Cartooning Lab at CCS. We're pleased to have played a role in the development of this important work.

'Beyond Punishment,’ a new comic from Vermont’s Applied Cartooning Lab, examines the history of mass incarceration, from ancient times to our current crisis.