She has been creating travelogue and food-related comics for a number of years now, most notably “French Milk” (2008) and “Relish” (2013). She’s an excellent note-taker of her life as it unfolds and as she goes back to process it.Īs we discuss in my interview with her, how she combines memoir with passionate descriptions of the meals during her adventures brings to mind M.F.K. One part of her tells her she’s in heaven while another part suggests this will end up a fleeting romance. He’s a mathematician who is easy on the eyes. During this trip, there’s this boy she likes. Instead, she is engaging that pen to paper, drawing and writing her way to insightful work. She is not stuck in some artistic funk, circling around a sketchbook.

I find that Knisley has a keen sense of who she is and where she is going. It is a pleasure to see her continue to evolve as an autobiographical artist. Knisley has a clean line in the service of a direct and crisp narrative. And so we see how Knisley fares, after some pre-travel jitters (it happens to the best of us) and she is off and running. As opportunities arise, one must try to choose wisely. We are swept up by a whirlwind European adventure as we follow Knisley on an all-expenses paid trip of a lifetime in September of 2011.

Next, she wants to add a suitcase for her pair of 2014 travelogues, 'An Age of License' and 'Displacement,' which received a staggered release from Fantagraphics in September and February.Lucy Knisley snatches from the ether bits of ephemeral conversation and other momentary pleasures to present to us, “An Age of License,” her latest travelogue graphic novel. Then there's a crisscrossed fork and spoon commemorating her food memoir, 'Relish: My Life in the Kitchen' (2013). First there's a tattoo of a book blazoned with the ISBN number of her first graphic memoir, 'French Milk' (2008). You can trace Knisley's career on her left arm. Over time, Knisley herself has come and gone from Chicago. Earwax Cafe, the Chicago arts scene staple where Knisley once grabbed lunch with comics legend Scott McCloud, has been gone for years. The bar where she used to swap drawings for drinks has shut its doors. As a student at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, she rented an apartment off Damen Avenue - perfect for its proximity to a copy shop (for printing zines) and Quimby's (for selling them). Recently, during a walk through Wicker Park on the first warm day of spring, Knisley reminisced. And Knisley doesn't just have one book on a Quimby's shelf - she has four (and counting).

Since their September wedding, she and John bought a house in Ukrainian Village. 'There's a page where I walk through Quimby's and daydream about my eventual book on the shelf,' she says.

An Age of License by Lucy Knisley