Annisija Hunter, subject librarian at Hilton M. Briggs Library at South Dakota State University, has received the prestigious 2026 Will Eisner Graphic Novel Grants for Libraries Innovation Grant for her project, “Humanizing Health Sciences Education with Graphic Medicine.” She accepted the award during the annual American Library Association Annual Conference in June
“I am honored to receive this grant and grateful for the opportunity to bring graphic medicine to the SDSU community,” Hunter said. “Graphic medicine has the unique ability to build empathy and understanding by connecting storytelling, art, healthcare and education. I’m excited to use this new collection to encourage meaningful conversations across disciplines about the relatable human experience of illness, the importance of good health communication and the impact of patient-centered care.”
The grant supports the development of a new graphic medicine collection at Briggs Library that will use comics, graphic novels and visual storytelling to explore healthcare experiences, reduce stigma and amplify marginalized perspectives.
“This collection will help students and faculty engage with healthcare topics in a more personal way,” she said. “I’m hoping it also creates interdisciplinary partnerships across campus between the health sciences, art and communications.”
The project also includes a campus event, “Comic Relief: Healing Through Graphic Medicine,” which will introduce the collection to the university community and encourage collaboration across disciplines. Participants will have the opportunity to create their own graphic medicine panels using re
The grant provides Briggs Library with $2,000 in collection development funds for graphic novels, $1,000 to host a graphic novel-themed event, a collection of works by acclaimed cartoonist Will Eisner, and a selection of current Will Eisner Award-winning graphic novels.
Nancy and Carl Gropper of the Will and Ann Eisner Family Foundation praised the proposal for reflecting “Will Eisner’s spirit and vision for the educational value of sequential art.”
