The first event in the 2023 Arlington Reads series: "Get Graphic" with Alison Bechdel

Join us for a conversation between author Alison Bechdel and Library Director Diane Kresh about Bechdel's graphic novel memoirs, including "Fun Home," and her long career as an American cartoonist. Thanks to our special partnership with Studio Theatre, attendees (virtual and in-person) will have the chance to win a free pair of tickets to go see a production of the musical adaptation of Fun Home later this year!

The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.

RSVP for an event reminder. Attendance is first-come, first-served until seating capacity is reached.

The event will also be livestreamed and available as a recording for 30 days on Arlington County's Youtube channel; RSVP to receive the online link. 

For more information, contact LibraryPrograms@arlingtonva.us

For our current policies on masking, please see our Library Operations Update.

Date:
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Time:
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Library:
Central Library
Audience:
Events for Adults Events for High Schoolers Good for Adults Age 55+
Categories:
Author Talk
Calendar:
Arlington Public Library
Registration has closed.

About the Author: Alison Bechdel is an internationally beloved cartoonist whose darkly humorous graphic memoirs, astute writing and evocative drawing have forged an unlikely intimacy with a wide and disparate range of readers.For twenty-five years Alison self-syndicated "Dykes to Watch Out For." The award-winning generational chronicle has been called “one of the pre-eminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period” by Ms. Magazine. From the strip was born the now famous “Bechdel Test,” which measures gender bias in film.Her first graphic novel "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" was named the Best Book of the year by TIME, describing the tightly architected investigation into her closeted bisexual father’s suicide “a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other.” "Fun Home" was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award and was adapted into a Broadway musical that has won five Tony Awards, including “Best Musical.” Alison is also the author of "Are YouMy Mother? A Comic Drama" which delves into her relationship with her mother, as well as the theories of the 20th century British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott. Her latest work, a profoundly affecting graphic memoir titled "The Secret to Superhuman Strength," was released in 2021. The Guardian calls the memoir, “quietly astonishing” and “extraordinarily generous.” Alison was the recipient of a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2014 she received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. In their citation the MacArthur Foundation noted that Alison “is changing our notions of the contemporary memoir and expanding the expressive potential of the graphic form.” In 2017, Alison was ushered in as Vermont’s third cartoonist laureate.

About Our Events

Accommodations in the Library

Arlington County provides accommodations to individuals with disabilities upon request. Please contact ​us at least five (5) business days in advance.

  • Phone: 703-228-5993
  • Email: Jberg@arlingtonva.us