Nate Powell is a National Book Award–winning cartoonist who began self-publishing as an Arkansas teenager in 1992. His work includes Save It for Later; civil rights icon John Lewis’s Run: Book One, Come Again, Two Dead, and its follow-up Any Empire; and Swallow Me Whole.

Powell’s work has received four Eisner Awards, two Ignatz Awards, the Comic-Con International Inkpot Award, and multiple ALA and YALSA distinctions. He has discussed his work at the United Nations, on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, PBS, and CNN. As for his music career, Powell was introduced to the hardcore punk community in 1991, played over 500 shows across North America and Europe in various bands, including underground legends Soophie Nun Squad and Universe, and managed the do-it-yourself label Harlan Records from 1994 to 2010.