Lucy Knisley is the author and illustrator of beloved graphic novels about memory, identity, food, and family. Her Alex Award-winning graphic novel, Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, tells the story of her childhood steeped in the food industry. It was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into five languages. Her travelogues (French Milk, An Age of License, and Displacement) and web comic series (Stop Paying Attention) have been lauded by critics, and her combined work has built her a devoted readership for her honest and thoughtful true-life stories. Her graphic memoirs include Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride and Kid Gloves.

I had the opportunity to interview Lucy, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m an author/illustrator with a number of graphic novels, travelogues, picture books and online comics. I specialize in confessional narratives, but have, in recent years, gotten more into middle-grade fiction. I’m queer, a mom of a six-year old, and I live in Illinois.

What can you tell us about one of your latest books, Apple Crush? What inspired this story?

Apple Crush is a continuation of my middle grade GN, Stepping Stones, which is a story based on my own experiences moving to the country and gaining two stepsisters who were very unlike me. In Apple Crush, we see the sisters come to recognize that adolescence brings different interests that can divide or unite them. I’m talkin’ ‘bout RoMaNcE. Which one stepsister is decidedly into, and one decidedly NOT.

What inspired you to get into storytelling, particularly within the medium of comics? Were there any favorite writers or stories that sparked your own love and interest in storytelling?

My dad is a professor of English literature, and my mom’s a chef and artist. I think comics was a natural way for me to combine these inherited loves. I always adored Lynda Barry and Alison Bechdel, and loved the way comics allowed them to tell stories from their own point of view, literally adding their visual take on true life through their drawings.

As someone who has moved between writing non-fiction with your memoirs and fiction with your middle-grade graphic novels, what do you find most enlightening about switching between different genres and age-ranges?

I think it’s a healthy flex, for any author, to try to switch up genres! I always wanted to do fiction, but I think I felt it made me too vulnerable. I know that seems counterintuitive, that I’d find fiction more revealing than autobio, but something about how non-fiction happened out in the world makes it safer than sharing something that only happened inside my head. But it’s been good to stretch the truth and find new paths for the story to take that deviate from what occurred. 

How would you describe your writing/drawing process? 

Necessary procrastination, panic, outlining, and filling in the blanks. Then prolonged bad-sitting while I draw.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing/drawing? What are some of the most challenging?

I like the inking part, because I can listen to audiobooks while I do it. The rest requires my brain to focus entirely on the project, which is scarier.

As an artist, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration?

I came up with a lot of incredible artists and writers— Dylan Meconis and Kate Beaton and Vera Brosgol and Hope Larson and Raina Telgemeier were all my Livejournal buddies. I got so much from that crew and others, and continue to be blown away by all the new work coming out every day. 

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet, but wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)? 

Hm. I always like “Why did you get kicked out of school?”

Sometimes people assume I’m just this sweet midwestern soccer mom (somewhat true, though my kid refuses to play sports). I had a rough high school time, and used to stage protests and walk-outs with my queer youth group. A star athlete at one of my (four) high schools was at a party where he was caught smoking pot, and he named me as another student who’d been smoking. Because I was already in trouble with the school for rabble rousing and refusing to play organized sports, I was “made an example of” and kicked out. The rage I felt and still feel about that sort of academic treatment is a big inspiration for why I want to make comics for young people— to express that frustration and try to make kids feel less alone in that fury.

What advice might you have to give for aspiring comic book makers (both writers and/or illustrators)?

Start short! A lot of people want to make an enormous epic comic right from the get-go, but if you start with a zine, a short online comic or mini-comic, you build up your muscles for your epic passion project later on. Bit sized chunks help you eat the whole meal!

Besides your work, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?

I like bikes. I try to ride every day even in the winter in Illinois. I have a cargo bike that I use to shlep around my kid and alley furniture. I highly recommend it. As someone who works inside my head/inside my home, getting out into my environment is important to my mental health, and lets me feel connection to where I am on the planet. 

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I have a bunch of irons in the fire, comics-wise! I just finished a picture book about community cycling. I started it during the pandemic, when I realized that local community activism and mutual aid was so important to our survival as a culture and species. I wanted to make a kids book about different bikes riding together— the different ways we ride and support one another on our journeys, and how together we can overcome the dangers of traffic that we face as individuals.

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

Liz Prince, Jess Fink, Lynda Barry, Eleanor Davis, Leanne Shapton, Sarah Becan, Corinne Mucha, Jen Wang, Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, Emily Flake and Emil Ferris, just to name a few I picked off my shelf! There are so many wonderful authors publishing new stuff, I feel so lucky to live at this time when I can enjoy this new, exciting work on the regs!