So… Blackbird Express? What is it?

Something happens when I tell the story behind my graphic novel, Song of a Blackbird. When I open up about how my grandparents never spoke of life under Nazi occupation, and how I felt when I found documents written by them about the years under Nazi rule after their passing. And how that inspired me to create a graphic novel about the incredible history they were a small part of.

What happens is that people tell me the stories of *their* parents and grandparents. A college student told me how his grandparents fled Iran where they were prosecuted for their ethnicity. A young mom shared how her grandmother had helped her mother escape Saudi Arabia, so that she could build a better life for herself abroad. And how she was afraid for her grandmother’s safety, yet how it was important to her to share it with me in a quiet corner of the conference room where I had just presented about my book.

I’ve heard stories of fathers who joined the Nazi party as young men, and how that ultimately broke their soul. A story of a German resister who moved to the US after the war, only to be met with hatred because of his nationality. Jewish grandparents who survived the Holocaust, and refused to speak of it ever again. A Holocaust survivor who confided to me that he could speak of little else. A story of a father who lost his childhood in a Japanese concentration camp in Indonesia, and a grandfather who lost his life while forced to work on the Burma Railway as a POW…

And then there are questions. About my research. About the people I spoke with and the buildings that spoke to me. About why artists are at the forefront of the resistance (So. Many. Reasons.). About the historic photos and about my drawings. And why those colors? About my family. “How does your mom feel about the book?”

It’s my goal to create a corner of the internet where those stories and questions can be shared, without the algorithms, advertising and soulless reels of social media.

I will regularly send a newsletter to your email inbox with a longer form take on something I’ve been asked about, something I’ve discovered in my research, an inspiring person I’ve learned about or met, or a book by someone else that embodies the way in which a thing in the past can make us look differently at the present; how it can change the way we look at something today. In other words, how the past can open our eyes (clarify), open our minds (help us accept), and open our hearts (help us embrace!).

I hope you’ll subscribe! You will receive all my newsletters in your email inbox. You will be able to access the Blackbird Express blog, add a comment, and join the chat. Feel free to unsubscribe at any time. Or upgrade to a paid subscriber if you would like to support me (it makes a difference!).

Open mind, open heart,

Maria van Lieshout

PS: Tell stories. Make ART🐦‍⬛