Graphic Memoirs: Lisa Hanawalt & Julia Wertz
Writer and cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt (I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex) joins fellow graphic memoirist Julia Wertz (Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here)) for a conversation on graphic memoirs and the comedy found in crises, obsessions, and growing up. Both works feature the vulnerability of the memoir form displayed in bold graphic panels but, at their core, center relatable stories of resilience and humor. Moderated by comics journalist Shay Mirk.
About I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex:
From the creative mind behind Bojack Horseman and Tuca & Bertie comes a fragmented memoir — poignant, punchy, and sometimes just plain gross!
A deliciously candid and juicy exploration of platonic and romantic fixations, heartbreak, and the allure of horses.
I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex marks the long-awaited return of Tuca & Bertie creator and BoJack Horseman producer/production designer Lisa Hanawalt to comics. This is the honest, silly, horny and vulnerable memoir of a horse girl, now in her forties and reflecting back on a lifetime of obsessions.
Whether Hanawalt is confronting large life issues like whether or not to have kids, being an anxious lil freak, caring for a sick horse, revisiting childhood trauma, or dealing with a major breakup and the ensuing lustfulness—she delivers a reading experience that’s relatable, affirming, and almost always hilarious. In lush colors and kinetic lines, she charts the strange terrain of life, one bumpy, dusty horseback ride at a time.
About Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here):
Raw, honest, and hilarious, Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here) chronicles the joy and horror of becoming a mother during challenging times.
In this follow-up to the acclaimed memoir Impossible People—a book about getting sober and becoming a professional artist in New York City—cartoonist Julia Wertz returns home to Northern California where she reunites with her family and rekindles a relationship with an ex-boyfriend. After a surprise pregnancy and a marriage proposal, Julia settles (somewhat reluctantly) into a quiet life in a small town. But as 2020 approaches, her world, and the world at large, takes a sharp turn toward unexpected chaos. Through comic vignettes, essays, and diary doodles, Julia recounts the events of her pregnancy and its attendant body horror, a miscarriage, family trauma, marriage, a life-altering accident, and the joy and surprises of parenthood as it all unfolds against the backdrop of local wildfires and a global pandemic. The result of this unconventional collection is a heart-wrenching and hilarious story of adversity, resilience, and, ultimately, love.
