Live on Zoom.  Free event.  Register here to receive the Zoom link.

Collaborative event between the Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury, the Otis Library in Norwich, the Public Library of New London in New London, and NBM Publishing.

Meet internationally-renowned graphic novelist Wilfrid Lupano and illustrator Stephane Fert as they join us remotely from France for a conversation about their most recent English publication.  In 2021, Dargaud Publishers in France released Blanc Autour (which translates to ‘white all around’), a graphic novel that tells the story of Prudence Crandall’s Canterbury School from the perspective of the Black and Brown students.  On February 11, 2025, the English edition of the novel, Surrounded: America’s First School for Black Girls, 1832 was released by NBM Publishing and is now available.  Terry Nantier, founder and publisher of NBM Publishing, will also join us for the conversation.

Joanie DiMartino, Museum Curator of the Prudence Crandall Museum, will moderate the conversation with Lupano and Fert, and share her thoughts on this creative rendering of the tumultuous history of the school. You will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event.  Copies of Surrounded can be borrowed from your local library or your on-site purchase of the book at the museum will support the Prudence Crandall Museum.