Find Your Voice, Tell Your Story & Witness the Possibilities of Graphic Memoir

SAW Graphic Memoir + MEdicine Working Group

You Have an Important Story to Tell

Wherever you are in the process the Graphic Memoir + Graphic Medicine Intensive Workshop Group has been supporting Creators just like you since November 2017 til now.

Explore New Perspectives
Receive In-depth Feedback
Stay Accountable
Build Structure
Find Direction
Develop a Regular Creative Practice
Work Alongside Fellow Graphic-Memoirists
Grow Through Mentorship

Together, #1 New York Times bestselling cartoonist Tom Hart, mystery novelist and graphic memoirist Dr. Beth Trembley, Maureen Burdock, Vanessa Davis, and other SAW mentors have taught hundreds of students, bringing over 100 years of combined teaching experience across schools, colleges, and community settings.

This ongoing group brings together their wisdom, curiosity, and excitement for personal story telling through comics, alongside the growth and support of a community of like-minded creators, with exercises and discussions tailored to meet the needs of the people in the (virtual) room.

Meet Your Mentors

Vanessa Davis

MONTHLY MENTOR & SAW INSTRUCTOR
Vanessa Davis is an illustrator and cartoonist currently living in Los Angeles. She is the author of Spaniel Rage (Buenaventura Press, 2005) (re-released in March 2017 by Drawn and Quarterly) and Make Me a Woman, (Drawn and Quarterly, 2010).
Vanessa is currently a mentor in the Graphic Memoir + Medicine Ongoing Working group.

Website
Maureen Burdock

MONTHLY MENTOR & SAW INSTRUCTOR
Inspired early by fairy tales, Maureen won her first prize for an illustrated short story about two adventurous hot dogs. Burdock’s graphic memoir, Queen of Snails, was published in 2022, followed by Sleepless Planet: A Graphic Guide to Healing from Insomnia in 2025. She now lives in Europe with her wife and boxer, working as an illustrator, comics and creativity coach, and freelance teacher.
Maureen is currently a mentor in the Graphic Memoir + Medicine Ongoing Working group.

Website
Dr. Elizabeth Trembley

MONTHLY MENTOR & SAW INSTRUCTOR
Elizabeth Trembley, Ph.D., is the author of the graphic memoir Look Again (2022) and a Lambda Literary Award-winning mystery novelist (as Josie Gordon). With over three decades of teaching experience, she trains students in storytelling, graphic memoir, and prose. At SAW, she leads graphic memoir courses, moderates the Memoir and Medicine Intensive Group, guest teaches in the Comics Certificate and Graphic Novel Intensive programs, and offers private coaching.
Beth is often in the group, and with Tom, designed many of the exercises in the group.

Website
Tom Hart

SAW FOUNDER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AND HEAD INSTRUCTOR
Tom is the New York Times Bestselling author of Graphic Memoir Rosalie Lightning and the Executive Director of The Sequential Artists Workshop. He was an early recipient of a Xeric Grant for self-publishing cartoonists, and has been on many best-of lists in the Comics Journal and other comix publications. Before founding SAW, Tom was a core instructor at the School of Visual Arts in NYC for 10 years. Tom’s former students include award winning-cartoonists Dash Shaw, Sarah Glidden, Box Brown, Leslie Stein, and many others.
Tom is frequently in the group, and with Beth, designed most of the exercises.

Website

"It wasn't until I began to create my own graphic memoir that I began to realize the deep riches that came with telling my story in words and pictures, not just words alone."

- Beth Trembley

Each Week in the Graphic Memoir + Graphic Medicine Intensive Workshop Group feels a little Different

This group has been dynamic, rich, supportive and super-interesting.

We share work in our network, we share work on calls. We have rich exercises and discussions according to the needs of the group or even individuals.

It may be that some people need guided exercises and others want discussions and feedback. Both are always accommodated.

Want to be with real people telling their stories? Want to tell your own? Want to make your graphic memoir come alive?

This group will focus and inspire you. Let's make your story happen!

Join our private Mighty Network group and you'll get instant access to an abundance of materials and wisdom from Vanessa, Maureen, Beth, Tom, guest cartoonists and fellow-creators.

The Graphic Memoir + Medicine group comes with all Comics Flow + Publish resources, access to our Monthly Pro-Calls, and four free self-directed courses.

Tom Wrote the Book on Graphic Memoir

"My book, The Art of the Graphic Memoir was years in the making, and began here at SAW. In this group, we go beyond, WAAAYYY beyond the book, into powerful, deep exercises and conversations about how to turn life into art (and vice versa)."

- Tom Hart