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| For some reason she wanted me in her author photo |
by Mike Rhode
I briefly met Sarah Firth while she was signing her book at the Small Press Expo this fall. She continued on her US tour after selling out of her book that weekend. We reconnected via email after she returned home and here is the interview.
But first, here's info about her and the book, lifted from her press release :
Sarah Firth (she/her) is an artist, writer,
cartoonist and graphic recorder based in Wurundjeri Country, Melbourne,
Australia. Sarah has received a Talking Difference Fellowship from the
Immigration Museum, was a finalist in the Incinerator Gallery Award For Social
Change and her comics have appeared in Eisner Award-winning and
Ignatz-nominated anthologies.
Her debut graphic novel, Eventually
Everything Connects – Eight Essays on Uncertainty was The Age’s Non-Fiction Pick of The Week, shortlisted
for The Prime Minister’s Literary Award and listed as ‘One of The Best Graphic
Novels Ever’ by Refinery29.
Eventually Everything Connects is Sarah Firth’s debut graphic novel, a collection of
interconnected visual essays created over eight years. Sarah invites you into
her wild mind as she explores ways to see with fresh eyes, to face the
inevitability of change, and to find freedom in sensuality.
With raw honesty and vulnerability, Firth
reminds us that the profane and the sacred, the tender and the cruel, the
rigorous and the silly, all coexist in dynamic tension. This book is a
delicious mix of daily life, science, philosophy and irreverent humour that is
comforting, confronting and mind-expanding in equal measure.
What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?
I like to play and make all kinds of things, from comedic and gag comics, to slice of life and memoir pieces, academic comics, non-fiction essays and thought pieces all the way to fiction. I love thinking, exploring and making and my creative practice is very responsive to living.
I also work professionally as a graphic recorder, graphic facilitator, strategic visualiser and educator/trainer at workshops and live events. I utilize a lot of the comics making skill set in this work, but it is done live, fast and in response to or in co-design with the group as a facilitation tool. In real time it is more about listening, but the end product looks a lot like comics - though usually more like a spatial infographic or mind map. I use panels sometimes! It’s very emergent.
How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?
I work across mediums. Ink and watercolour on paper, to digital with Procreate on my iPad.
When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?
I’m an elder Millennial.
What is your training and/or education in cartooning?
I have always drawn and been creative. I’ve also always written journals. I was classically trained as a sculptor, but a car accident changed that career path, and I turned to comics and animations as a creative outlet when I was injured. It’s a lot cheaper and faster than sculpture! I still don’t feel like much of a writer and have no formal training. I’ve mainly learned how to draw and write comics by reading them and work-shopping with other comics makers, particularly through The Comic Arts Workshop here in Australia. I work-shopped my debut graphic novel Eventually Everything Connects with them. And honestly, I couldn’t have made it without this community of talented, generous peers!
Who are your influences?
I have so many influences! I read very promiscuously. I love science communication writers like Ed Yong and Merlin Sheldrake. I like theory from James Carce such as Finite and Infinite Games, the works of Donna Haraway, Tyson Yunkaporta, Iain McGilchrist and Jack Halberstam. Hybrid works like Big Beautiful Female Theory by Eloise Grills make me feel like my work is possible. Comics-wise I love Lynda Barry, Sam Wallman, Joe Sacco, Lee Lai, Kevin Huizenga, Tara Booth, Rachel Ang, Eleri Mai Harris, Claudia Chinyere Akole and so many more!
What work are you most proud of?
I’m really proud of my debut graphic novel Eventually Everything Connects. It took 8 years of love and struggle. That’s the longest comics project I’ve ever done.
So what is your new book about, beyond the PR blurb quoted above?
These
interconnected graphic essays are one meta work that explores questions
of living, of being in community, of loving and trying to make some
sense of living in our hyper complex world where crises and destruction
keep coming. It is part memoir, non-fiction, autotheory, science
communication and a work of philosophy. Which sounds a bit wanky, but
while the book chews on hard questions it is buoyed along with a lot of
humour and enjoyable silliness too.
So far the responses to
the book have been amazing with lots of readers getting in touch with me
to say that the book has been a real tonic and balm to their
existential dread and weariness. Helping them feel that they are not
alone and that the world is still wild and wonderful in all kinds of
ways. The horrors persist, but it so do I, that sort of thing.
Were these essays commissioned for a publication, or did you do them on your own?
I
wrote and drew all of these from my free will, if it exists. I have
submitted a few excerpts to online and printed journals and writing
prizes.
How did you find a publisher?
It’s been a
long road - especially given that my book doesn’t fit neatly into a
genre. From 2019 - 2020 I submitted the work directly to publishers and
got rejections. Then I eventually got approached by my Australian agent
Jacinta Di Mase in 2021 and they submitted my book to publishers in
2022. More rejections came. I got to a point where I thought this book
just wasn’t going to find a home.
I was sad and stressed, so
went off to the forest to chop wood and seriously think about letting
the book go. I got to a point of being ready to let it die. I was
chopping wood and burning pages when my agent called to excitedly tell
me that Joan Press of Allen & Unwin wanted to acquire it. What a
turn around!
The Aus/NZ edition came out in 2023. And then I
got a US agent Dan Lazar of Writer’s House and he sold the international
English rights to Graphic Mundi. The US edition came out in 2024.
How did you get to do a tour of America for the book?
I
applied for multiple travel grants and luckily got two. One from
Creative Australia and The Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund from
Writers Victoria.
What would you like to do or work on in the future?
I want to keep on playing, collaborating on cool projects, making my own projects, drawing, writing and thinking, and see what emerges.
What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?
I often work on multiple projects at once so I can keep momentum and switch between them if I get stuck.
I also mainly work from home and find doing mundane tasks like washing, cleaning and gardening helpful for processing things unconsciously which can help break through blocks.
Other times I call a friend, journal, hike, walk and type on my phone, dance, move and exercise. Changing my thinking and body movement can really help with problem solving.
What do you think will be the future of your field?
At the moment in Australia, the appetite and recognition of graphic novels in all genres is growing. And more graphic novels are being made. Who knows where this will go, but it’s a very positive signal.
What cons do you attend besides The Small Press Expo? Any comments about attending them?
As a neurodivergent person I actually find conventions really hard! So I only do them very irregularly. They are so amazing for connecting and community building, but I get overwhelmed by the noise, movement and visual stimulus really quickly.
That said my SPX experience was amazing because I worked in tandem with my publisher Graphic Mundi, who sold my books all day, and I just had two booksigning windows and a panel over the two days. I cope way better when I have shorter time bound activities with a clear goal. And then I can go and rest in the quiet room or touch some grass outside. And then slowly make my way around to other people’s tables and panels.
Do you have a website or blog?
Website: http://www.sarahthefirth.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahthefirth/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahTheFirthCreativeServices
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahthefirth
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahthefirth
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahthefirth/
How has the COVID-19 outbreak affected you, personally and professionally?
Oh man, it totally gutted my work at first. As a professional graphic recorder, graphic facilitator, strategic visualiser and educator I mainly work in-person workshops and events. And they all got cancelled. It was panic stations for 6 months. Luckily in Australia we had some meager small business COVID relief grants that helped to keep me going. Eventually things migrated online, so luckily I could find work virtually, especially to help make online events less dull.
Here in Melbourne, Australia we had some of the longest and strictest COVID lockdowns. Luckily I had my partner, my cat and a stable home. We could both work remotely and isolate. Making comics, cartoons and working on my book were actually a key way I managed the stress, fear and isolation of those few years.
