Mugs for sale: help me choose images?

In June, I made two mugs for my friend Morgan:

Mugs with creature drawings by Sarah Leavitt

I am going to make some more mugs to sell at Word Under the Street, September 26, and I need help choosing which images to use. Can you help me choose three or four from the following? (Also I could use the images I used for Morgan’s again).

Dancing for No Reason by Sarah Leavitt
ONE
The Moon Does Such Strange Things by Sarah Leavitt
TWO
Two dogs pattern by Sarah Leavitt
THREE
Yap by Sarah Leavitt
FOUR
When Sad, Try Drawing Happy by Sarah Leavitt
FIVE
What Would You Do, by Sarah Leavitt
SIX
When Happy, Draw More, by Sarah Leavitt
SEVEN
Taxi Colleagues by Sarah Leavitt
EIGHT

Please use the comments section to cast your votes. And thank you!

Big Graphic Stories with Lee Henderson and Hiromi Goto, November 13, 2010

BIG Graphic Stories
Lee Henderson, Hiromi Goto & Sarah Leavitt
Hosted by Charles Demers
8pm-9:30pm, Exhibition Hall
Roundhouse Community Centre, Vancouver
FREE
Join Lee Henderson (The Man Game, Broken Record Technique), Hiromi Goto (Half World, Chorus of Mushrooms) and Sarah Leavitt (Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me) and their words and BIG images for a storybook-style reading of ingenious fabrications of memory, poignant reminiscences and more. Hosted by the activist writer and comedian Charles Demers (Vancouver Special and The Prescription Errors).

Graphic memoir workshop, November 13, 2010

Graphic Memoir: Snapshot Version
Saturday, November 13, 2010, 11am to 1:30pm
Roundhouse Community Centre, Vancouver

Registration information on Roundhouse website

In this hands-on workshop you’ll create a one-page comic based on a story from your own life. Discover the unique narrative power that comes from combining words and images. This workshop is for writers, artists and storytellers at any level; absolutely no need to be able to draw a realistic muscle-bound superhero. This workshop is presented as part of the Memory Festival. Each participant will receive a one-year subscription to Geist, Canada’s largest-circulation literary magazine.

Vancouver International Writers Festival with Lynda Barry, October 22, 2010

There is no point in trying to be cool about this: I am going to be reading with my idol, Lynda Barry. This is blowing my mind, as Marlys might say. The event is hosted by the wonderful Nancy Lee.

Comic Book Confidential

Host: Nancy Lee
Fri, Oct 22, 10:00am – 11:30am
Waterfront Theatre
$17 / $8.50 for student groups

Who would have thought that the comic book – usually the preserve ofsuper-heroes and evil villains – could be used to explore family life and the deepest secret thoughts of teenagers? Lynda Barry is one of the great contemporary cartoon masters and her young comic book characters run the gamut from Marlys (gifted and exuberant) to Maybonne (concerned with social justice and music) to Freddie (fascinated with bugs and monsters). Sarah Leavitt‘s new graphic memoir, Tangles, reveals how Alzheimer’s disease transformed her mother Midge – and her family – forever. These talented writers and artists use words and pictures not to escape reality, but to bring it into focus and offer insight into how to deal with what life throws at us.

Edmonton LitFest: October 23 + 24, 2010

I’ll be doing two events at the Edmonton LitFest Nonfiction Festival:

The Writer’s Jam at noon on October 23:
Sarah Leavitt talks about the process of combining illustration and text without crowding either to the margin.  This session is perfect for writers, illustrators and those who love them.

A Brunch of Writers at 11:00 AM on October 24:
What do you get when you gather a “bread expert” and food columnist, a geopolitical expert on the environment, and a graphic novelist and illustrator?  Stories of personal tragedy, delight and courage combine with live music and an elegant brunch buffet at the Sutton Place Grande Hotel.

More advance praise for Tangles

The story has a definite place in the literature available to persons who have to deal with this terrible tragedy. The format (a graphic novel) is fresh and will appeal to the younger generation who are just beginning to come to grips with this crisis. Sarah describes very clearly many of the various problems that occur with each stage of the illness. She is very honest about her reactions and feelings as well as her attempts to cope with them. There are many lessons for others to learn but the biggest lesson is that it is OK to have reactions, feelings and frustrations that are not always “correct” as one watches a loved-one’s progress. I think that the graphic novel tells the story in a more vivid and personal way than most books could possibly do… I know from my years of experience that the novel WILL be very helpful to others dealing with Alzheimer’s. — E. Prather Palmer, MD, former Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Clinic, Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Massachusetts

The art of the modern cartoonist is to tell a complex, literary story with deceptive simplicity. In her short graphic novel, Sarah Leavitt brings us the unsparing narrative of her mother’s decline and death from early-onset Alzheimer’s, at a shockingly young age, in words and drawings that put me in mind of Roz Chast. In a book that you can read in less than an hour, Leavitt’s skill, economy of line and efficiency of vocabulary give you plot and interwoven characters, humor, pathos, comedy and tragedy enough for 500 pages of prose. — Eleanor Cooney, author of Death in Slow Motion

Tangles rings completely true to me. I had flashes of recognition on every page and read it right through in one sitting… I feel this is a really important book. I can’t get it out of my head, now. It does so much to educate, but it’s tender… This is a book I would buy — and multiple copies! I’ve read other books on the same topic (no graphics, though) usually written by spouses of, but none by the younger children of. The way things are going, we should ALL own a copy. — Rosalind Penfold, author of Dragonslippers

Sarah Leavitt vividly depicts the changes and losses associated with dementia and the challenges this poses for family members.  At the same time, the person with dementia – in this case, the author’s mother – is never lost or forgotten; her life history is referenced throughout the novel, as her spouse, siblings and adult children witness changes in her behaviour and adapt to their new roles as care partners. Leavitt tackles difficult issues like faecal incontinence, lack of recognition of loved ones, and intimate personal care with honesty and sensitivity. In an accessible and entertaining way, she introduces us to her mother as a person and shows us a life marked by Alzheimer’s disease, but certainly not reduced to it.  As Leavitt bears witness to her mother’s progression from awareness of symptoms through the loss of ability to care for herself to dying shortly after moving to a nursing home, we learn along with her how to relate to and care for a person with dementia. In addition to persons with dementia and their care partners, this graphic novel certainly would be of interest to educators – both those teaching undergraduate students in health and social science disciplines and those raising public awareness about dementia.  — Dr. Wendy Hulko, Assistant Professor of Social Work & Coordinator of the Aging & Health Research Centre, Thompson Rivers University; Qualified Health Researcher, Centre for Research on Personhood in Dementia, UBC

Sarah Leavitt’s graphic novel is an intricate expression of a daughter’s love and loss of her mother, bit by bit, episode by episode. Uncompromising and powerful, I couldn’t put it down until I’d read it from beginning to end. Sarah has told the story of her mother’s relentless slide with a powerful emotional honesty. As an artist, I could feel myself with Sarah, and imagined her storing the images in her mind as the events unfolded. When down on paper, her beautiful detailed drawings captured perfectly the joy, frustration, sense of loss, humour and poignancy of dealing with Alzheimer’s. As a person with a mother in the early stages of the disease, I welcome this book, as compelling, instructive, and yet enormously comforting too. — Lesley Fairfield, author of Tyranny

Word Under the Street, Vancouver, September 26, 2010

Come see me at Word Under the Street, the comics section of The Word on the Street Festival, in the basement of the Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch. I’ll be selling comics (small dog romances, creatures), fridge magnets (Why Editors Have No Friends, Small Dog Haiku), mugs (brand new!) and signed copies of Tangles. My dad might be there with me!

The Word on the Street Vancouver

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