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Willow Dawson is a Canadian cartoonist and illustrator known for her contributions to graphic novels, picture books, and illustrated fairy tale collections.
Early life and education
editDawson was born in Vancouver, Canada. According to The Tyee, in her childhood, Dawson experienced life-threatening asthma and utilized medications that destroyed her kidneys; doctors advised her parents that she would not live beyond adolescence. Her health issues led her to spend much time drawing. Her father's work as an artist exposed her to various mediums of art at a young age. She went on to study at the Ontario College of Art & Design.[1]
Notable works
editViolet Miranda: Girl Pirate and earlier work
editThe Tyee highlighted Dawson's contribution to the superhero comic anthology Girls Who Bite Back: Witches, Mutants, Slayers and Freaks, and the comic Mother May I, which was co-authored with Sarrah Young and touches upon the topic of date rape.[1]
Emily Pohl-Weary's Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate, a graphic novel told in four parts, was illustrated by Dawson.[1][2] The first entry, published in 2005,[1][3] was praised in Broken Pencil magazine as a "beautifully illustrated black and white saga" with "much promise."[4]
No Girls Allowed
editIn 2008, she illustrated author Susan Hughes's graphic novel, No Girls Allowed, telling the story of various women throughout history who disguised themselves as men. The book received positive reviews from Boing Boing,[5] National Post,[6] the School Library Journal,[7] and Booklist.[8]
Hyena in Petticoats
editDawson's most notable work to date is the 2011 Hyena in Petticoats: The Story of Suffragette Nellie McClung. Dawson was approached by Penguin Canada to create a historical graphic novel about the Canadian suffragette Nellie McClung. Since McClung considered farm life to be the underpinning to her political and literary success, Dawson created page borders with banners inspired by the covers of 1900s farming catalogues and tiny, moving animals reflecting the theme of each chapter.[9]
The book, Hyena in Petticoats: The Story of Suffragette Nellie McClung, was reviewed in CM Magazine[10] and Quill & Quire.[11]
Subsequent works
editDawson's 2015 picture book, The Wolf-Birds, published by Owlkids, was praised by the School Library Journal reviewer as a "stellar introduction to forest ecology".[12] It was also reviewed by Publisher Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.[13][14] She also produced the black-and-white comics panels in Frieda Wishinsky's children's book Avis Dolphin (2015), a fictionalized account of the 12-year-old girl who survived the sinking of RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915.[15][16] Other credits include illustrations in My Girlfriend's Pregnant! A Teen's Guide to Becoming a Dad by Chloe Shantz-Hilkes (2015).[17]
A 2018 translation of Franz Xaver von Schönwerth's White as Milk, Red as Blood, a 19th-century collection of fairy tales recovered in Germany in 2009, was published by Knopf Canada and illustrated by Dawson. It was deemed by CBC Books to be the "very first fully illustrated, full-colour edition" of the collection.[18]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Weaver, Lisa; Dingman, Shane (December 29, 2005). "Girls Who Bite, Draw and Fly". The Tyee. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate". Kiss Machine. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "Violet Miranda: Girl Pirate (#1 of 4)". Kiss Machine. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "Violet Miranda, Girl Pirate". Broken Pencil. Archived from the original on March 23, 2006. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "No Girls Allowed: Graphic novel of inspiring historical women who overcame societal limits by dressing as men". Boing Boing. May 26, 2009.
- ^ National Post. May 2, 2009 http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2009/05/02/toronto-comic-arts-festival-2009-q-amp-a-with-willow-dawson.aspx.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Burns, Elizabeth (December 18, 2013). "No Girls Allowed". School Library Journal.
- ^ "No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure, by Susan Hughes". Booklist Online. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ Dawson, Willow. "Space TV". Willow Dawson's Sketchblog. Blogspot. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
- ^ Chychota, Julie. "Hyena in Petticoats: The Story of Suffragette Nellie McClung". CM Magazine. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
- ^ Gardner, Suzanne. "Hyena in Petticoats: The Story of Suffragette Nellie McClung by Willow Dawson". Quill & Quire. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
- ^ "The Wolf-Birds by Willow Dawson". Publishers Weekly. June 22, 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "The Wolf-Birds". School Library Journal. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "THE WOLF-BIRDS". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "Avis Dolphin by Frieda Wishinsky". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "Avis Dolphin, by Frieda Wishinsky". Booklist Online. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "My Girlfriend's Pregnant! A Teen's Guide to Becoming a Dad, by Chloe Shantz-Hilkes". Booklist Online. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ "White as Milk, Red as Blood". CBC Books. October 30, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
