Pierre on Plath

Cartoonist Summer Pierre reviews for the New Yorker's site two collections of letters from poet and novelist Sylvia Plath, who suffered from depression and took her own life in 1963.

For her drawn consideration of the books, Pierre works in color, sharing context and her reaction to Plath's letters by way of a long scrolling column of single panels organized vertically. The focus swings between the artist-as-critic in her Hudson Valley area home—digesting these volumes that have her both spellbound and heartbroken—and renderings of Plath, frequently at the typewriter, preparing what is "over fifteen hundred letters" she sent to her mother, her brother, and others.

Also this month, Pierre spoke about her process and the making of All the Sad Songs, her new graphic memoir, in detail with Gil Roth on his Virtual Memories Show podcast.

I wrote about Pierre's ongoing autobiographical Paper Pencil Life comics/zine series as well as her brand new graphic memoir All the Sad Songs. It's great to see her A) working in color and B) doing long(er)-form stuff. Her books and art are available at her Etsy store.