2026 Bauder Lecture at Howard Community College with Mat Johnson

Thu, Sep 24 | 6 – 7 pm
Howard Community College | Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center
For teens & adults. Information at bit.ly/4fSGx1m

Mat Johnson, award-winning author of the literary graphic novel Backflash, explores the complexities of American racial identity through satire, historical fiction, and graphic novels. Drawing on his experiences as the son of a Black mother and an Irish American father, Johnson offers readers and audiences a nuanced, challenging view on what it means to be a person of color in America throughout history and today.

Since the publication of his first novel, Drop, in 2000, Johnson has established a reputation as a forward-thinking writer with a unique, imaginative perspective on American social norms, which he explores through characters who toe the line between outlandish and instantly recognizable. He received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature from Longwood University and was the first person to be named a James Baldwin Fellow by United States Artists, a public charitable organization that supports and promotes the work of American artists. Johnson is a professor in the Creative Writing Program and English Department at the University of Oregon.

The Bauder Lecture at Howard Community College is made possible by a generous grant from Dr. Lillian Bauder, a community leader and Columbia resident. Backflash was selected by The Howard County Book Connection Committee, a partnership between Howard Community College, Howard County Poetry and Literature Society, and HCLS.