Photo of Jacqueline Barnes

Jacqueline C.J. Barnes

Jacqueline Barnes creates worlds that reflect our current society through a fantastical lens. She is a storyteller that engages with different forms of escapist media such as animations, speculative fiction, video games, and graphic novels. She also deals with creating different forms of representation within these mediums in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. Jacqueline’s work stems from a personal need to see herself and others represented positively in a fun and engaging way.

Interdisciplinary at heart, she believes there is no one tried and true way to tell a story, and often employs different mediums in her work. Whether it be through word processing, panels and comics, or the in-betweens in an animation, Jacqueline finds the many facets of storytelling fun to explore. Currently, she is working on exploring the different facets of black fantasy and developed a new term: PhantaNoir, an exploration in black fantasy, in order to contextualize that work.

Upcoming Workshops with Jacqueline C.J. Barnes

Workshops for Writers & Illustrators

> Online
> In-Person
> On-Demand (Self-Paced Online)

New to the Highlights Foundation? Try these:

About Children's Publishing | The Whole Novel Workshop | Summer Camp

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Visiting Our Campus

Our campus (The Barn at Boyds Mills) is tucked away in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.  It's a few hours from both New York City and Philadelphia, but worlds away from everyday life.

Line drawing of the Barn at Boyds Mills

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