Author and illustrator Edward Carey, stuck inside his Austin, Texas, home, decided at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to sketch a random portrait and post it on social media. This evolved into one sketch a day, with each sketch either pulling from history and Carey’s imagination or responding to the times we live in. Plagues and Pencils is a compilation of these sketches and a visual representation of the many ways we form connections with others, even in isolation.

Moderator: Michael Hoinski, deputy editor of Texas Highways and former curator of the O. Henry MuseumEdward Carey, Plagues & Pencils