Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry is one of my living heroines.  Her comics and novels are exuberant and hilarious, and perfectly capture the bittersweetness of the adolescent experience.  I think her stories rings so profoundly true due to their innate specificity.  Whether she is sharing fragments of her own memories - as in her astounding graphic novella One Hundred Demons - or spinning more "fictional" yarns - as she does with her comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek or novels like CRUDDY- her fierce honesty and devotion to detail are vivid and relentlessly brave.

As we all know, the thing about actually meeting one's hero or heroine is that they can be rather disappointing people in real life.  So it was a leap of faith for me when I decided to take her writing workshop, Writing the Unthinkable, a few years back.  Not only was it an inspiring and instructive experience from a crafting standpoint, but it made my love for Ms. Barry grow twentyfold, as she was every bit as funny, warm, and badass in person as I had always imagined - perhaps even more so.

In addition to reading all of her past work, I highly encourage you all to read this great article about her in yesterday's Times.  In it, she talks about her newest book, What It Is, which is an illustrated workbook of sorts about writing, creativity, and the power of images.  I already ordered my copy, and can't wait to receive that giant dose of magical Lynda Barry potion. 

UPDATE:  I just received the book and it is huge and breathtakingly beautiful. 

Comments

[Craig]

Wow -- thanks for the tip! ONE HUNDRED DEMONS is a treasure. Her latest book looks amazing.