Ally Shwed is a graphic artist, writer, and editor. She received her MFA in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art & Design and has worked with such publications as The Boston Globe, The Nib, and Vox.
In 2017, Ally concluded a visiting professorship at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Querétaro, México, where she spearheaded a program in sequential art studies. Later that year, she was selected as a Creator-in-Residence at the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, during which she published Blocked: Stories from the World of Online Dating, which was nominated for a DINKy Award. In 2018, she received a fellowship through the Denver Independent Comics & Art Expo and was a featured contributor to the Oxford Handbook of Comic Book Studies.
Ally's recent projects include the graphic novel Why the People (Macmillan, 2022) and Votes for Women (Little Red Bird Press, 2020), which was nominated for the 2021 Ringo Award for Best Anthology and featured in 'Drawing Us Together: Public Life and Public Health in Contemporary Comics', an exhibition at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Last year, she finished illustrating a coloring book for Microcosm Publishing. She is currently teaching as an adjunct professor at SCAD.
Ally lives in Jersey City, NJ, with her partner Gerardo Alba and their cats, Egon and Schneider. She and Gerardo publish cool comics and screen print fun things as Punk Cat Press.
Ally is represented by McKinnon Literary Agency.
CLIENTS & COLLABORATIONS
The Nib . The Boston Globe . Vox Media . The Intercept . Topic . Splinter . Jezebel . First Second Books . Lion Forge Comics . Microcosm Publishing . Tapas Media . Displaced Snail Publications . The Mütter Museum of Philadelphia . Jersey City Ties . Forte Preparatory Academy . PKM Personal Injury Law . Digital Defense Fund . Pop Culture Classroom
ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Fault Lines in the Constitution (Macmillan, 2020) - Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection
Votes for Women (Little Red Bird Press, 2020) - Ringo Award nominee
Puerto Rico Strong (Lion Forge Comics, 2018)
Comics for Choice (Silver Sprocket, 2017) - Ignatz Award, Best Anthology