Interviews
Three Point Perspective Podcast, Episode 310, What is Illustration? An Interview with D.B. Dowd, hosted by Samantha Cotterill and Jake Parker. Published May 26, 2026. A discussion of Reading Pictures: A History of Illustration (Princeton University Press, 2026). The podcast series lives on the School of Visual Storytelling website. The conversation explored illustration history and its resonance for contemporary practitioners.
Exploring Art History Video Podcast, Episode 5: Visual Literacy: A Conversation with D.B. Dowd, hosted by Howard Burton, published May 18, 2026. Discussion of issues raised in Reading Pictures. Burton published a complementary article, Probing the Boundaries: Exploring Illustration, the same day on his Ideas Roadshow Substack page.
The Daily Heller: How Illustration is Essential to World Cultures, Steven Heller, Print Magazine, published May 7, 2026. A blog interview by design historian Heller with D.B. Dowd, exploring questions raised by Reading Pictures, including reflections on looking and reading in the twenty-first century.
The Modern Art Notes Podcast, Episode No. 755, hosted by Tyler Green, published April 23, 2026. Covering Photographer Jess T. Dugan and D.B. Dowd’s Reading Pictures. (The RP section begins at 51:20). Discussion focused especially on illustration and literacy in the nineteenth century, including Sequoyah and his Cherokee syllabary (1821) as well as the runaway visual culture of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).
The Illustration Department Podcast with Giuseppe Castellano, Michelle Komie and D.B. Dowd, Episode 358, published April 21, 2026. A 3-way conversation between (or among?) Giuseppe, Michelle Komie the editor and publisher for art history and architecture at Princeton University Press, and D.B. Dowd, author of Reading Pictures, published by PUPress in April 2026. The conversation spanned illustration history as a subject, the business of university press publishing, and pitching, writing, and editing books.