Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Time: 6:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Center for Hellenic Studies, 3100 Whitehaven St. NW, Washington, DC 20008 and via Zoom
Please join us for a conversation on adapting Homer’s Odyssey.
The Odyssey, a poem that recounts the hero’s return home from the Trojan War, has a long history of reinterpretation. That tradition remains vibrant today. In recent years, from the printed page to the stage, from visual art to the silver screen, scholars and artists have highlighted the poem’s depiction of the experiences of war, the voices of its female characters, themes of colonialism, reflections on memory, and more.
In this discussion, Gareth Hinds (author and illustrator of the graphic novel The Odyssey) will be joined by scholar Suzanne Lye (Associate Professor in Classics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). They will discuss Hinds’ graphic novel, the process of adapting ancient epic to modern comics, and the Odyssey’s enduring relevance today.
This event is part of a new “Classics + Pop Culture” series here at the Center for Hellenic Studies. This public-facing initiative bridges scholarly and creative perspectives on the ancient world through a focus on antiquity in modern media.
Bios
Gareth Hinds is the creator of critically acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics, including Beowulf (which Publisher’s Weekly called a “mixed-media gem”), King Lear (which Booklist named one of the top 10 graphic novels for teens), The Merchant of Venice (which Kirkus called “the standard that all others will strive to meet” for Shakespeare adaptation), The Odyssey (which garnered four starred reviews and a spot on ten “best of 2010” lists), Romeo and Juliet (which Kirkus called “spellbinding”), and Macbeth (which the New York Times called “stellar” and “a remarkably faithful rendering”). Gareth is a recipient of the Boston Public Library’s “Literary Lights for Children” award. His books can be found in bookstores and English classrooms across the country, and his illustrations have appeared in such diverse venues as the Society of Illustrators, the New York Historical Society, and over a dozen published video games.
Suzanne Lye is an Associate Professor of Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. in Classics from UCLA and her A.B. from Harvard University. She has been awarded several research fellowships, including from Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies, Dartmouth College, UNC’s Institute for Arts & Humanities, and the Loeb Library Foundation. Her book Life / Afterlife: Revolution and Reflection in the Ancient Greek Underworld from Homer to Lucian (Oxford 2024) examines conceptions of the afterlife in ancient Greek Underworld narratives from Homer to Lucian. Her interests include Homer and Homeric Reception, Greek literature and culture, mythology, ancient religion and magic, ancient representations of gender and ethnicity, rhetoric, pedagogy, and classical reception in film and video games.