12th Aug 2009
Good Girl Hall of Famer # 7: Alison Bechdel, Cartoonist/Graphic Novelist
Alison Bechdel is a pioneering cartoonist who was born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, in 1960. Among her most famous work is the cartoon strip, Dykes to Watch Out For, where Alison depicts the lives of lesbians residing in an unnamed city in the U.S. The strip is hilarious and completely real at the same time, as it documents the love lives and work dramas of her characters. Some of the girls in Dykes to Watch out For are recycling vegans; others work for the C.I.A.; others are struggling moms; or struggling daughters. It’s a total hoot. Besides her strip (which has been collected into many books), Alison has also written a graphic novel, Fun Home, which tells the story of her childhood, complete with a closeted gay dad and lots of emotional turmoil. Her work is phenomenal because it goes where no cartoonist – as far as I know – has gone before, in dealing with the lives of lesbians. It’s also just a rocking, rolling, soapy, dramatic ton of fun. If you’re interested in graphic novels, and telling truths no one has dared to speak out loud, I recommend you give her books a try.
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bio
Yxta Maya Murray is a writer and a law professor living inLos Angeles with her husband Andrew and her two silky terriers, Sophie and Oscar. In January, she'll be publishing her first young adult novel, The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped. The Good Girls' Guide tells the story of Michelle Peña, a foster kid, straight A student, and track star, who also happens to be East L.A.gang royalty. Michelle has abandoned her family's gang ways, and is the happy foster kid of a doctor named Frank Redman out in Westchester, California. However, she finds herself getting drawn back into that Life when she and her best friend Kiki are kidnapped by
a gang, "The Snakes," in retaliation for a drug debt
owed by her brother.