(Posted September 14, 2015)

Jay Hosler, professor of biology
Jay Hosler, professor of biology

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Acclaimed graphic novelist and Juniata College biology professor Jay Hosler will draw the curtain back on his creative process in a talk, "Stories That No One Has Asked For," at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 23, in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science on the Juniata campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public.. The talk is part of the Bookend Seminar Lectures, series of afternoon talks or lectures given monthly by members of the Juniata faculty.

Hosler will focus his talk on his personal work style and his creative process, using his most recent book, "Last of the Sandwalkers," published in April, as a springboard for the topic. He will detail why he decided to write the book, and also will discuss the process he went through to publish the graphic novel.

Hosler also will discuss how "Last of the Sandwalkers" has been marketed and how he was able to create, write and draw a 300-page book about beetles over a 10-year period, detailing "the ups and downs of making science comics, trying to get people to read them, and why anyone would make stories no one has asked for."

Hosler came to Juniata in 1999 from Ohio State University's Rothenbuhler Honey Bee Research Laboratory where he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow. At Juniata he received the Gibbel Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2005. He was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and was promoted to full professor in 2012.

In 2012, Hosler wrote, "Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth," which was chosen for the "Great Graphic Novels of 2012," list published every year by the American Library Association/Young Adult Library Services Association. The book also was a Junior Library Guild Selection.

Hosler has published two previous biology graphic novels, "Clan Apis" and "The Sandwalk Adventures." In 2006, he received a two-year grant from the National Science Foundation to write "Optical Allusions," a sensory biology comic-book text published in 2006 featuring a character called Wrinkles the Wonder Brain.

At Juniata he teaches Sensory Biology, Neurobiology, Invertebrate Biology and General Biology. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1989 from DePauw University. He went on to earn a doctorate in 1995 in biological sciences from the University of Notre Dame. He has published research articles in Experimental Biology, Behavioral Neuroscience, the Journal of Insect Physiology and the Journal of Comparative Psychology.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.