Cartoonist Lynda Barry

Episode notes

Photo: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Lynda Barry is a legend of alternative comics. 

She started her career as an undergrad at Evergreen College – she made a regular comic called Ernie Pook’s Comeek. It ran for almost 30 years. The comic earned her a reputation as sweet, funny and fearless.

She’s written over a dozen books. Her work is usually autobiographical. She talks about her childhood, her family, and her past relationships. The stories are almost always funny, but also poignant. 

These days, she’s been busy teaching. She’s an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She’s written several books on the subject of drawings and comics, and how to do and make them.

Her book, What It Is, was re-issued on paperback earlier this year. When we talked to Lynda in 2020, she’d just written Making Comics. It’s sort of an illustrated guide on how to create comics. Some of it is pulled straight from the classroom – things she’s been teaching her students for years. The book also explores what she’s learned as a teacher.

At the heart of the book is a belief Lynda has: anybody can draw. Anyone can make comics. The struggle, she says, is putting pen paper and getting out of your head long enough to make something.

Lynda talks about her childhood and why her family members decided to not teach her Tagalog. She shares some exercises that will help even the most stubborn novice of artists. She also explains why sometimes people who haven’t picked up a drawing utensil since childhood make some of the best comic drawings.

A version of this interview originally aired in February of 2020.