Attention fans of cartoons: The Dorothy Parker Society is hosting an event at the Algonquin Hotel that will draw seven notable cartoonists to celebrate the publication of Sex and Sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love…in 200 Cartoons.
Liza Donnelly, who has been a cartoonist at The New Yorker since 1982, edits the book. The party is Wednesday, April 30, 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the second floor of the hotel. In addition to Donnelly, the other cartoonists who will be in attendance are Barbara Smaller, Carolita Johnson, Victoria Roberts, Marisa Acocella Marchetto, Signe Wilkinson, and Julia Suits. Most of them have appeared in the pages of The New Yorker.
About the book: it comes out in hardcover in April. The book will be for sale at the party during a signing. Twelve Books, the publisher, says:
Ten of the funniest cartoonists in America, eight of whom regularly publish in The New Yorker, along with two Pulitzer Prize winning editorial artists, comment on the many humorous aspects of sex, love and everything else that’s amusing about relationships today.
Beyond the laughs, the creators of this unprecedented and cutting-edge collection of cartoons and essays offer a perceptive portrait of how gender roles and attitudes are changing with the times, whether the subject is sex through texting, lesbian erotica, the new rules of dating, sexual politics, or procreation (for example, Barbara Smaller’s cartoon: “I plan on having a baby one day but I’m waiting for the right technology to come along.”)
In addition to the seven cartoonists who will be at the party, the other cartoonists in the book are Roz Chast, Ann Telnaes, and Kim Warp.
To attend, please RSVP to Kevin (at sign) dorothyparker.com by April 25. There will be a cash bar (and bring cash, the hotel does not take credit cards). The book will be available for purchase ($23). This is a perfect place for the party, as the magazine was cooked up in the same place we will be celebrating, and the wallpaper of the hallways is all classic New Yorker cartoons.
The cartoonists attending the book party:
Liza Donnelly has been a cartoonist for more than twenty years. A contract cartoonist with The New Yorker, her work has also appeared in the New York Times, National Lampoon, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and other publications, as well as regular features in American Photographer, Parenttime.com, Oxygen.com and TONEaudio.com. Liza edited several collections of cartoons for Ballantine and Andrews and McMeel, and wrote and illustrated a series of children’s books for Scholastic that sold over two million copies. Her previous book, Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists and Their Cartoons (Prometheus Books, 2005), is a cultural history of women cartoonists and The New Yorker. Well-reviewed, it is widely considered indispensable for historians of the magazine and cartoon fans. In 2004, Liza wrote an essay for The New Yorker on cartoonist Helen Hokinson.
Barbara Smaller has been a New Yorker cartoonist since her first appearance in the Aug. 5, 1996 issue. A sign in storefront window says “Only 1248 More Shopping Days Till The Millennium.” To date she has published more than 250 cartoons in the magazine.
Since 2003, Carolita Johnson’s cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker, The Complete New Yorker, “The Rejection Collection” (by Matt Diffee), and Funny Ladies by Liza Donnelly. She has also appeared in The Rejection Show (cartoons, and illustrated narrative). She is a native New Yorker, and has an excellent blog called Newyorkette.
Victoria Roberts is an internationally renowned cartoonist and performer. Born in Manhattan, Roberts grew up in Mexico City and Sydney. Under contract to The New Yorker since 1988, Roberts’ work has also appeared in The Australian, Uno Mas Uno (Mexico), and Vrij Nederland (Holland). Roberts has written and illustrated six books, illustrated 14 books (including, Is Your Cat Gay?), and received several grants, awards, and residencies, including an Australian Bicentennial grant for Australia Felix published by Chatto & Windus. Since 2004, she has appeared on stage as her cartoon character Nona Appleby (née Molesworth). Nona is a kimono-clad Australian octogenarian.
Marisa Acocella Marchetto first began her career as a cartoonist in 1994, when a character she created called SHE appeared in Mirabella magazine. In 1995, Marisa published her first graphic novel, Just Who the Hell is SHE, Anyway? (Harmony Books). Her work caught the attention of The New Yorker, and her first cartoon appeared in the magazine in the issue of April 13, 1998. She has also had her work appear in the New York Times Sunday Styles section, Advertising Age, Modern Bride, and ESPN the Magazine. Since 2002, her single panel cartoon “Glamour Girls” has appeared monthly in Glamour’s “Dos & Don’ts” section. In 2004, Marisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. When her Glamour editors found out, their second reaction was to ask Marisa to document her battle with the disease. Cancer Vixen originally ran as six pages in Glamour in May 2005. Alfred A. Knopf published Cancer Vixen, the graphic memoir, in October 2006. Marisa was awarded The Humanitarian Award at The Breast Cancer Research Foundation Symposium and Awards Luncheon in 2006. Marisa has donated a percentage of the proceeds to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and to underprivileged women at the Comprehensive Cancer Center affiliated with St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan.
Signe Wilkinson, a native of Texas, is an editorial cartoonist best known for her work on the Philadelphia Daily News. In 1992 she bec
ame the first female cartoonist to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. She served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists from 1994-1995. In 2005 she published a collection of her work entitled One Nation, Under Surveillance. Some of Signe’s honors include the 1997, 2001 and 2007 Overseas Press Club Award, and the 2002 RFK Award. She has the distinction of having been named “the Pennsylvania state vegetable substitute” by the former speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Julia Suits has drawn editorial portraits for Creators Syndicate since 1988. Her work has appeared in major newspapers all over the world. Suits has a BFA in painting from Beloit College, and an MFA in sculpture from The Ohio State University. Suits’ drawings have appeared in the L.A. Times, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Weekly, The Gainesville Sun, The Charleston Post and Courier, The Washington Times, Insight Magazine, and many others. A certified medical illustrator and forensic sculptor as well, Suits was the first person to reconstruct the head of an Egyptian mummy using CAT scan technology.
So save the date, Wednesday, April 30, 6:30 p.m. The Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, between 5th and 6th avenues. Come to the second floor.