Hazel Newlevant on QUEER AND HOW WE GOT HERE: A (PERSONAL) HISTORY

Hazel Newlevant is a Brooklyn-based cartoonist known for creating and editing comics about queer history, bisexuality, polyamory, and reproductive rights. Their cartoonist CV highlights start off with the Xeric Grant-funded mini comic Ci Vediamo in 2012 and the Prism Comics Grant-funded biography of Harlem Renaissance blues singer Gladis Bentley called If This Be Sin in 2013.They decided to branch out into anthology editing in 2016 with Chainmail Bikini, which collected experiences of female and nonbinary gamers in a male-dominated space. The success of that led them to keep a foot in both worlds moving forward. The anthology side racked up co-editing titles like 2017's Comics for Choice, 2019's Puerto Rico Strong, and 2024's Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans. Back on the strictly cartoonist side, they put out the 2017 graphic novella Sugar Town and the 2019 graphic novel No Ivy League. This body of work over the first decade of their career, give or take, has earned them the Ignatz Award, the Eisner Award, and the GLAAD Media Award. But that is all prelude to their new book, released last month, which brings them here today. Queer and How We Got Here: A (Personal) History blends the creator's personal history with their growing understanding of the larger landscape of queer identity THAT history is unfolding in. By sharing both parts of that journey equally in such a clear and effective narrative, they have made a book that belongs in every library, bookstore, and home. [This episode is number 838 in a series.]   CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro 04:38 – Queer History or Personal History - Which Came First? 07:12 – Choosing The Moments 11:42 – Who This Book Is For  20:01 – Identity Categories and History 25:48 – Color Palette Choices 29:08 – Workflow and Archival Process 33:17 – Outlining and Structuring the Puzzle  44:25 – Outro