Jazz Groden-Gilchrist!

Conundrum Press is pleased to announce that Jazz Groden-Gilchrist, a comic artist living in Vancouver, has been selected to receive the second annual Conundrum Press Mini-Comic Bursary for Black and Indigenous Creators.

This $1000 bursary for developing and emerging creators was established in 2020, in solidarity with anti-racist protestors fighting for crucial change against systemic racism. Groden-Gilchrist is free to invest the bursary in printing costs, living expenses, or anything else he feels will best support his goal of creating a new mini-comic. In addition to the bursary, he will also have access to editorial and distribution support.

“The graphic novel that I’m working on focuses on the trauma that I experienced as an adopted black youth,” says Groden-Gilchrist. “It’s going to be an intimate and moving story but it’s much closer to home than anything I ever expected I’d write and is rather difficult for me to approach. I want to use the bursary to make a short comic that focuses on the black experience, but from a perspective of joy and excellence instead of pain.”

When Groden-Gilchrist was asked about his motivation to apply for the bursary, he responded with, “I had an experience in 2021 where something I was really excited about didn’t pan out and it seemed like Blackness was the barrier. I applied for this bursary because I knew it was a space that me and the characters I portray were welcome in.”

Conundrum Press is excited to see where this new project leads. “I was very impressed with the quality of Groden-Gilchrist’s art and more impressed by the heart-felt letter he included,” says publisher Andy Brown. “I also really appreciate his goal of using the bursary to make work that is joyful, as a (partial) antidote to trauma.”

About Jazz Groden-Gilchrist

Jazz is an adopted black Vancouver based comic artist. He uses the safe(-ish) distance of storytelling to explore identity, complex familial relations, and responsibility, and loves creating diverse fantasy settings. Jazz also enjoys Ultimate Frisbee, Dungeons and Dragons, and awful puns. He is represented by the fantastic Jennifer Azantian.

Media Contact

To arrange interviews or for other requests, please contact publicist Sal Sawler at sal@conundrumpress.com.