Join Books Inc. Berkeley in welcoming Maureen Burdock in a reading from her graphic memior Queen of Snails!
Uprooted from her childhood in Germany and set adrift in the American Midwest, Maureen was raised by a kind but neglectful mother who loved Jesus more than her own child and a stern, disinterested grandmother who waxed nostalgic about Nazi Germany. Growing up queer and isolated, Maureen often felt unmoored and unloved.
Years later, Maureen reflects upon her complicated past. Queen of Snails follows Maureen through time and memory in her quest to untangle the trauma passed down to her over three generations of women. Part memoir and part family history, Queen of Snails is a beautifully drawn, powerful story that examines and transmutes the emotional baggage of violence, abandonment, and displacement.
"Maureen Burdock's artwork is beautiful; you just wish to touch and hold those snails. Yes, one must dig deep to forgive distant parents and live with one's history. But also to know and accept love."
--Miriam Katin, author of We Are On Our Own and Letting It Go
"Maureen Burdock has produced a riveting graphic memoir that lays lush colors into subtle, grey-washed landscapes and contains both deeply considered essay writing and sharp dialogue. Queen of Snails uses surrealist imagery to illuminate an often-gritty narrative of a childhood struggling to understand itself amidst generational trauma and generational wisdom. Burdock brings us on an emotionally expansive journey as she searches for the elusive idea of home."
--Justin Hall, editor of No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics
Maureen Burdock is a graphic storyteller and scholar. She is the author of Feminist Fables for the Twenty-First Century: The F Word Project, and she has contributed comics to various collections, including the Eisner-winning anthology Menopause: A Comic Treatment; Covid Chronicles: A Comics Anthology; and Pathographics: Narrative, Aesthetics, Contention, Community. You can follow her work at maureenburdock.com.
