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Maureen Burdock is a graphic storyteller. She was born in the Black Forest, Germany. The summer after first grade, her mother brought her to the Chicago area to escape domestic violence. In the third grade, after learning English quickly, Burdock won her first prize for an illustrated short story about two hot dogs who bravely escape from a frying pan…only to be carried off by a stray dog! The award included a personal meeting with a published children’s book author. Burdock knew then that her destiny was to become a writer and illustrator. Her art and comics have been exhibited and published in ten countries, and she has won numerous awards. Graphic Mundi published her graphic memoir, Queen of Snails, in November of 2022. Burdock is also the author of Feminist Fables for the Twenty-First Century: The F Word Project, and she has contributed comics to various collections, including the Eisner-winning anthology Menopause: A Comic Treatment; Covid Chronicles: A Comics Anthology; and Pathographics: Narrative, Aesthetics, Contention, Community. Burdock earned dual master’s degrees from the California College of the Arts, and a PhD in cultural studies from the University of California, Davis.
Sleep: Rewilding Time
How’s your sleep these days? If you’re rolling your eyes because it’s not great, you aren’t alone. About a third of people in the industrialized world suffer from insomnia, and even more just aren’t sleeping enough. This is a public health crisis. Why can’t we sleep? Why did The Guardian recently call this condition “the woefully ignored Cinderella of medicine”?
Sleepless Planet: A Graphic Guide to Coping with Insomnia is the story of a planet yearning for rest, as well as the author's quest for better sleep. This project explores the culture of overconsumption and hyperarousal that is keeping so many of us from rest and sleep…and wreaking havoc across species! Part creative nonfiction in the graphic narrative form and part comics diary of essential changes the author has been implementing to improve her slumbers, Sleepless endeavors to make methods for coping with this pandemic ailment personally accessible. Come and see this sneak preview of work in progress!
