Graphic books have no respect for boundaries

Blog
Written By Karen Zemanick

Graphic books invite us to challenge genre boundaries in the best way. Today Publishers Weekly highlights some compelling examples. Is it a comic strip, biography, art, or travel narrative? Doesn’t matter, seems to me, unless you’re trying to figure out which shelf to find it on at the bookstore.

A beautiful example is Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss. The New York Public Library has created an exhibit paired with this book, as well as an interactive website. While the book is primarily a biography of the scientist Marie Curie, it also portrays her romantic life with her husband. The website adds another dimension with interpretations of the story by fourteen of Redniss’ students at Parsons the New School for Design. Click on "love" on the menu on the left column of the home page to view and hear an animated piece by Maayan Tzuriel in which “love and science intertwine.”

This kind of material reminds me to jot sketches as well as notes in my writing journal. It also reminds me of the limitations of my old Kindle compared to a new tablet. Time to upgrade?

Karen Zemanick

Karen Zemanick, an MFA student at Northwestern University, has published creative nonfiction and video essays. She also practices and teaches psychiatry in Chicago. She sees narrative as a tool to foster listening, community, and understanding.

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