Get it while supplies last!!!
New Comic in latest issue of NEW CITY Magazine!
publishing news
4 page comic on Daphne Du Maurier on Patreon and All the Sad Songs Featured on Backlisted!
It’s Friday which means there is a new comic on my Patreon! This week it’s a 4 page comic on the British writer Daphne Du Maurier’s obsession with the estate Menabilly. Menabilly was the inspiration for Manderley in her world famous novel, Rebecca. You can access it now along with many other comics and posts for a modest rate!
New comics are still coming every Friday along with occasional posts about my memoir in progress and thoughts about comics as a creative practice. I have really been enjoying having a space to share what’s been happening in my world–come on in! It’s colorful there!
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!
On Monday I had the delight and shock of my life when I discovered that ALL THE SAD SONGS was featured on my favorite podcast Backlisted! Some of you might remember me gushing writing about Backlisted in December when I shared my sketchbook spread of Queens of Crime. Imagine my shock to hear Andy Miller, writer and editor and co-host of Backlisted sharing ALL THE SAD SONGS as his pick of what he had been reading and loving this week! WHAT?? IS THIS REAL??
It’s hard to adequately say what this means to me. That podcast has done more for refueling my inner life in the last year than anything else has in years. In some ways it has recommitted me to a life of reading and writing in a way that I had forgotten was possible. Andy and John Mitchinson, and their array of guests, are so smart, funny, generous, and engaging that it’s truly infectious. To be included in that show and to be read (and praised) by Andy Miller is just…mind blowing (to say the least), and (dare I say it?) deeply affirming. Not all attention helps refuel, but I have to admit, this puts some strength in the heart for me. In the words of Tom Waits, I’m going to take it with me when I go.
It’s perfect timing because ALL THE SAD SONGS just went into a second printing! After a brief period of it possibly going out of print in the US, Retrofit decided to do a modest second print run, and I just got the first shipment of new copies. The price will be going up once my current supplies go out, so if you have been sitting on it–now is the time to get it!
TODAS LAS CANCIONES TRISTES is out in Spain!
It’s official: All the Sad Songs is out in Spanish from the wonderful Libros Walden as TODAS LAS CANCIONES TRISTES!!
They’ve even created a playlist on Spotify especially for the book–it’s chronological and yet as moody as the cover!
So excited for new readers to discover this book! Thanks to Manuel and to all in Spain for making this happen! I am so happy it is making its way around the world!
All the Sad Songs in SPANISH!
New Comic at Newyorker.com on Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West!
Absolutely gobsmacked to share the news that my latest comic at The New Yorker is about the fascinating relationship between the writers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Spoiler: it’s complicated!!
A shout out to my teachers at Goddard College, Bill Vander Clute, who taught a Virginia Woolf intensive class in the Fall of 1991, that changed my life, and to the poet Nora Mitchell who taught a class titled Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Literature in the spring of 1992 where I first read ORLANDO. Both of those experiences were with me as I made my way through this comic.
New Book In the Works for Fantagraphics!
The news is officially out! I am at work on a new book with FANTAGRAPHICS!! Working title is BABY HOLD ON TO ME and it’s a memoir about my mother, who was one of the first female stagehands of Rock n Roll. I couldn’t be more excited! It’s basically the project I have been dreaming of my whole life, but especially since her death in 2015. She lived an enormous complicated life and I can’t wait to share it with you. Stay tuned!
New Comic in NEW CITY!
I’m SO excited to have a NEW 7 page comic forthcoming in the print only April 2021 edition of NEW CITY! It’s a 7 page comic on the artist Dora Carrington–one of my earliest inspirations for drawing stories from life! It was the first comic I’ve done outside diary comics in a YEAR and I enjoyed every second of it! GET YOUR COPY HERE!
Paper Pencil Life #7 is HERE!
Dear friend,
I know life is weird right now and even downright hard and scary. I know that plans have been thwarted, people are sick and angry and afraid. It feels very weird to publish something during such a strained time of upheaval and uncertainty, but I also know what new work from other artists has meant to me at this time: It has been a lifeline. It has been a reminder that others are out there, in their world, alive and making things. It has been a comfort. This is what I hope this new issue of Paper Pencil Life will be like for you. It is the first ALL COLOR issue and I made every page count!
There are stories about dreams, destiny, starry nights, and grumpy postal workers! Stories about memory and monster movies and everything in between! There are friends and singing pets and hope. I hope you will like it and I hope it will make you happy. It will make me so happy to send you a copy.
Stay safe and thank you!
Love,
Summer
All The Sad Songs in French
Salut! I am OVER THE MOON to announce that All The Sad Songs is being published in FRENCH by Éditions Même Pas Mal! I spent a month relettering the whole thing in French. Probably one of the most unexpected delights of my life has been seeing my intimate experiences translated into another language! Books will hit bookstores on April 9th! If you’re in France or Quebec you can get yours wherever comics are sold!
Illustrations in The New York Times!
I got to do 23 portraits of 4th graders for The New York Times Magazine‘s All Comics Kid’s Section in today’s print edition of the Sunday New York Times. It was a labor of love! Go get your hands on this amazing issue–so many beautiful stories!
Paper Pencil Life 