The Blue Hill Public Library and Word. Literary Festival are co-sponsoring an event with author and cartoonist Liza Donnelly on Sunday, October 23 at 1pm in the Pearson Room. Donelly will discuss her newest book Very Funny Ladies, an in-depth celebration of women cartoonists of The New Yorker from the Roaring Twenties to present day. She will be joined in conversation by longtime New Yorker deputy editor Pamela Maffei McCarthy to discuss the role of women in cartooning, how the form has changed over the past four decades, and the opportunities technology offers artists for reaching new audiences in new ways.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration can be done online using the library's interactive calendar or by calling 374-5515. Please contact Kayleigh at kayleigh.thomas@bhpl.net for more information.

Liza Donnelly is an award-winning cartoonist and writer for The New Yorker Magazine and other publications. Author and editor of 18 books for children and adults, her most recent book is a history, Very Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Women Cartoonists, and her book Women on Men was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Donnelly’s essays and political cartoons have appeared in the NY Times, Washington Post, Medium and CNN.com and others. A sought-after international public speaker; her TED talk was translated into 40 languages and viewed online over 1.4 million times, she has spoken at the United Nations, and was accepted to speak at SXSW three times. Donnelly received an honorary PhD from the University of Connecticut for her work in peace and women’s studies. The innovator/creator of digital live journalism, Donnelly has worked for CBS News and CNN covering live events and politics in digital live-drawing. She created animations for CBS News, Flatiron Books, as well as scripting a short animation for TED. Liza is based in New York.

Pamela Maffei McCarthy held leadership positions at three great titles during the most transformative period in media history.  Over her four decades in magazines, she was Deputy Editor of The New Yorker, Managing Editor of Vanity Fair, and Executive Editor of Esquire, where she started her career as a proofreader.  

Pam has been a frequent speaker at colleges and conferences, and serves as an advisor to the American Journalism Project. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, and Brooklin, Maine.

Every October, Word brings together readers, writers, and tellers of tales to celebrate the written and spoken word—fiction and non-fiction, children’s literature, poetry, drama, nonfiction, storytelling and more.  The festival takes place in Blue Hill, Maine where a literary tradition of great thinkers and artists extends over two hundred years and includes Jonathan Fisher, Mary Ellen Chase, and E.B. White to name a few. Many writers continue to call the Blue Hill peninsula home as does a large community of passionate readers. To celebrate this rich heritage, Word presents three days of author readings, a poetry crawl, writing workshops, panel discussions, school events, and spoken word performances to sold out crowds.  Come join us and spread the Word!

Word is funded by the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation and the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as other generous donors. Partners include WERU-FM, the Blue Hill Public Library, and Blue Hill Books.