When I watched Liza Donnelly’s presentation: “Drawing upon humor for change” on TED WomenI was inspired by her cartoons and talk. I hope that this article encourages you to learn more about Liza and her projects, and that it motivates you to create your own projects to make a peaceful difference in the world.
Lisa Donnelly
Liza was inspired to draw since she was 7 years old, and she really enjoyed cartoons by James Thurber and Charles Schultz. She soon started to find her own style and making family and friends laugh motivated her to keep drawing. After getting her degree in Liberal Arts from Earlham College in Indiana, Liza moved to New York City and got a job at the American Museum of National History in the Art Department. She kept sending her cartoons to The New Yorker magazine, and she eventually became one of only 3 women cartoonists (with Nurit Karlin and Roz Chast) with the magazine in the early 80s.
I asked Liza to talk about the few women cartoonists back then, and she mentioned her book “Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists And Their Cartoons”. She researched and wrote about the women cartoonists in the magazine since 1925. There were no women cartoonists in the 50s and 60s, and in the 70s, the editor of The New Yorker began looking for new voices, a different kind of humor, and he brought in Liza, Nurit and Roz among others. Although currently there are around 8 to 10 women cartoonists out of 100 cartoonists drawing cartoons for The New Yorker, Liza is certain that it’s not due to any magazine bias. She feels the reasons more women are not in the business are numerous, and may have more to due with societal factors, and that culturally, the standard humor still tends to be male, and has been so for hundreds of years.
I had an opportunity to read Liza’s most recent book “When Do They Serve the Wine?: The Folly, Flexibility, and Fun of Being a Woman”, and it’s a great read and gift to women of all ages. I particularly love the cartoon with the book’s title! I asked Liza to talk about her motivation, and she shared that it was a combination of many things coming together. Joni Evans, a powerhouse in the publishing world, suggested that she write a book about “women of a certain age.” Liza liked the idea, but realized she would prefer to write a book that described women of all generations, and how all of them go through unique challenges at each stage of their lives. In the book she shares how women go through difficult and/or funny situations, while they try to figure out who they are and how they fit with their culture.
Liza also has taught Women Studies at Vassar College, and she considers herself a student of the feminist movement, and she wanted to ultimately bring women of all ages together over humor, showing that they are all dealing with the same issues at certain stages of their lives. She mentioned that every decade brings its own set of rules, restrictions and codes of behavior, and she was certainly able to interpret them through her wonderful cartoons.
I asked Liza to share an advice to someone who dreams of becoming a cartoonist and she suggested that he/she draws a lot, the more they draw the more they understand what they want to say and they get better at it. She mentioned that one of her favorite women cartoonists who inspired her was Nicole Hollander, and she suggests looking at other cartoonists’ work for inspiration.
Liza has a passion for connecting with other cartoonists worldwide and for discussing political issues through humor, and she has been involved in many projects, including Cartooning for Peace, and most recently as the editor of World Inc., a section of Dscriber.com, where she posts international political cartoons every week.
Liza wrote an auto biographical story of her growing up for Narrative Magazine, you can read it at http://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/fall-2010/portrait-cartoonist-woman, and she is currently seeking opportunities to write short opinion pieces.
Liza Donnelly has published children’s books, a book with her husband and other publications. For a list of all her books and to learn more about her, please visit www.lizadonnelly.com and http://whendotheyservethewine.com/ .
Here is her advice to women entrepreneurs:
“The power of laughter can bring people together and I encourage women in business to laugh, laugh at themselves, laugh at each other, share laughter”. Liza Donnelly