PWL INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR #6 "A PWL Conversation with Charles Johnson: The Spiritual Exercises of Novels and Cartoons" CHARLES JOHNSON ONLINE | October 29 | 12 PM (PDT) / 8 PM (CET) Abstract Charles Johnson’s work offers PWL a distinctive synthesis of philosophy, literature, visual & graphic art, phenomenology, and Buddhism. An academically trained philosopher, novelist, essayist, cartoonist, and practicing Soto Zen Buddhist, Johnson has consistently challenged the boundaries separating philosophical thought from artistic creation and lived experience. In this conversation, Eli Kramer will explore Johnson’s understanding of novels and cartoons as spiritual exercises: forms that train attention, deepen moral imagination, and transform the self’s relation to others and the world. For Johnson, fiction is not merely an illustration of philosophical ideas. The novel can function as a powerful form of philosophizing, while the cartoon can crystallize a rich moral, social, or metaphysical insight through a single image, gesture, or juxtaposition. He has brought these powers of philosophical image and text together in mixed modalities such as graphic novels. The discussion will consider Johnson’s place in American philosophy and his effort to expand its forms, audiences, and intellectual traditions. What does Africana philosophy contribute to philosophy as a way of life? How do Black American experience and literary traditions reshape questions of self-formation, freedom, community, and liberation? And what becomes possible when philosophical reflection moves beyond the professionalized essay into fiction, autobiography, drawing, and public art? We will also explore Johnson’s Soto Zen practice. How does a practice aimed at loosening the grip of the ego inform the creation of fictional voices, characters, images, and worlds? How can writing and drawing be acts of self-creation while also becoming means of liberation from the small self? Beginning with Middle Passage and moving through his other works such as Nighthawks, Grand: A Grandparent's Wisdom for a Happy Life, The Way of the Writer: Reflections on the Art and Craft of Storytelling, his co-authored graphic novel The Eightfold Path, and All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End: The Cartoons of Charles Johnson, the conversation will traverse the intersections of art, writing, and philosophy. The interview will be followed by a live audience Q&A. Bio Dr. Charles Johnson, University of Washington (Seattle) professor emeritus and the author of 27 books, is a novelist, philosopher, essayist, literary scholar, short-story writer, cartoonist and illustrator, an author of children’s literature, and a screen-and-teleplay writer. A MacArthur fellow, Johnson has received a 2002 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature, a 1990 National Book Award for his novel Middle Passage, a 1985 Writers Guild award for his PBS teleplay “Booker,” the 2016 W.E.B. Du Bois Award at the National Black Writers Conference, and many other awards. The Charles Johnson Society at the American Literature Association was founded in 2003. In February 2020, Lifeline Theater in Chicago debuted its play adaptation of Middle Passage. Dr. Johnson’s most recent publications are The Way of the Writer: Reflections on the Art and Craft of Storytelling, his fourth short story collection, Night Hawks, which was nominated for a 2019 Washington State Book Award; GRAND: A Grandparent’s Wisdom for a Happy Life; All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End: The Cartoons of Charles Johnson; and with Steven Barnes, he is co-author of the graphic novel, The Eightfold Path. In October, 2027, a graphic novel adaptation of Middle Passage will be published by Megascope/Abrams Comic Arts. Johnson is one of five people on posters created in 2019 by the American Philosophical Association (APA) to encourage diversity in the field of philosophy. Link To attend the session, please join us using the following link: https://meet.google.com/spd-vnyi-qwj Join Us If you would like to become a member of the ISPWL and receive firsthand updates about our upcoming news, events, and publications, please submit the form below. Join Us Follow Us       INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY AS A WAY OF LIFE ©2026 Email: ispwl@ispwl.com You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list at any moment. Unsubscribe | Manage your subscription