I was very fortunate to meet graphic novelist Miriam Katin on the tour for her first major work, We Are On Our Own, a few years back. I greatly enjoyed talking with her about the book, and the book itself was a very strong, personal recounting of tragic events surrounding The Second World War. I’m delighted that, according to an e-mail that just landed in my inbox, Katin’s follow-up graphic novel Letting It Go is due from Drawn and Quarterly in February. I’ve reposted the cover and solicitation information below, I hope you’ll look for it when it comes out.
Letting It Go
By Miriam Katin
Hardcover / 7.5″ x 9.75“ / 160 pages, full color
$ 24.95
978-1770461031
Miriam Katin has the light hand of a master storyteller in this flowing, expressive, full-color masterpiece. The world of Holocaust survivor and mother is turned upside down by the news that her adult son is moving to Berlin, a city Katin has villainized for the past forty years. As she struggles to accept her son’s decision, she visits the city twice, first to see her son and then to attend a Museum gala featuring her own artwork. What she witnesses firsthand is a city coming to terms with its traumatic past, much as Katin herself is. Letting It Go is a deft and careful balance: wry, self-deprecating anecdotes counterpoint a serious account of the myriad ways trauma inflects daily existence, both for survivors and for their families. Katin’s first book, We Are On Our Own, was a memoir of her childhood, detailing how she and her mother hid in the Hungarian countryside, disguising themselves as a peasant woman and her illegitimate child in order to escape the Nazis. The stunning story, along with Katin’s gorgeous pencil work, immediately garnered acclaim in the comics world and beyond. With Letting It Go, Katin’s storytelling and artistic skills allow her to explore a voice and perspective like no other found in the medium.
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– Chris