My "Women Laughing" Postproduction Kickstarter Reward

On June 16, I was truly enthralled by a short preview of the documentary film "Women Laughing." This was shown at a Swann Salon, an event the night before the most recent Illustration Art auction at Swann Galleries. The film's subjects are the women cartoonists of The New Yorker. The short film was then a work in progress by a talented team led by cartoonist and author Liza Donnelly. 

The following month I made a pledge of $200 towards the film's postproduction Kickstarter campaign (plus $5 to ship the reward I readily accepted in exchange). My feelings toward crowdfunding have softened over the years. It has now become clear to me that many worthy projects could never see the light of day without it.

"Women Laughing" Postproduction
Kickstarter Campaign accessed July 19, 2025

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/womenlaughingfilm/women-laughing-post-production?ref=recommendation-ended-project-1&category_id=Q2F0ZWdvcnktMzA=

No one who reads this blog regularly will be surprised by the wonderful reward I chose for myself. Only fifteen of these signed books were available and they were grabbed up quickly.

Now the film has been completed. And here is my beautiful, new copy, decorated on the half-title with a drawing from each signer. They are (clockwise from the center) Liza Donnelly, Liana Finck, Roz Chast, Amy Hwang, Emily Flake, and The New Yorker's cartoon editor Emma Allen.

Finally, good mothers always say to send thank you notes.

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My Copy of Mixed Feelings by Liana Finck

I obtained my copy of Liana Finck's children's book Mixed Feelings (2025) at the Society of Illustrators on February 6. The event, also featuring New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly, was jointly sponsored by the Society and the American Academy in Berlin. The discussion and slideshow was followed by a book signing.

Liana Finck and Liza Donnelly

 

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My Copies of Liana Finck's How To Baby and You Broke It!

A lot gets by me on Instagram. Fortunately, amid the thousands of images in my daily feed, I caught this unassuming one posted on May 20 by cartoonist Liana Finck:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7MZpZ0rPk5/

Regular readers of this blog know how fond I am of books that are signed and personalized by cartoonists, particularly New Yorker cartoonists. I obtained my first signed book from Ms. Finck back at MoCCA Fest 2014. Now here was an opportunity to obtain two new books at once without even having to step out the door. I picked up the phone and placed my order. 

The next day, the Community Bookstore called me back. Liana was in the shop signing. How did I want the books personalized? I suppose they thought I'd want it signed to one of the women in my life, but I insisted the author use my own name. After all, who's the baby maven?

How To Baby was just published on April 30. It is billed as "a no-advice-given guide to motherhood, with drawings." Okay, I'm in.

This copy was evidently signed first, then personalized. Hence the need for the arrow.

You Broke It! was published way earlier, on January 23. Both books are from Penguin Random House.

And there you have it, signed by "acclaimed cartoonist Liana Finck."

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Excuse Me—Signed by Liana Finck

Liana Finck's Excuse Me:  Cartoons, Complaints, and Notes to Self was released in the fall of 2019. Later book signings in 2020 must have been curtailed by the pandemic, but at some point copies were signed at Books of Wonder in Brooklyn. A small rapidograph drawing was included. One of these copies made its way to eBay last week, selling for a best offer of $24.95..

Liana Finck
eBay listing ended June 11, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144596434519?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=e59544df50e34baf99291a5d1c9ff7d2&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20220611013632&segname=11021&autorefresh=true

Liana Finck
eBay item description

Sold for best offer of $24.95

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Excuse Me: A Postcard from Liana Finck

New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck's new collection Excuse Me: Cartoons, Complaints, and Notes to Self is set for publication next week on September 24. Back on August 17, an intriguing offer appeared on Ms. Finck's Instagram account: preorder her book that weekend and send her a copy of the receipt; she in turn would reward you with a hand-drawn postcard. Nearly 2,500 people liked her post, and she left a similar one on Twitter (only seven likes there, including mine, but it's the one I actually saw).

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1RSr8olpE2/

It's a good offer and of course I took advantage of it. One hopes many other fans did too. I gave the artist the chance to opt out of having the drawing appear on social media if she wished, but then who wouldn't want to have a drawing grace this blog? I wondered to myself if she suspected how the Postal Service might treat a postcard like this containing delicate original art. I knew it very likely wouldn't arrive in perfect condition and I figured that probably could be considered part of the fun. 

And here it is!

So the card is indeed a little scuffed in the center but, hey, the postal service was never perfect. I, for one, am delighted.

Do you know what else delights me? It's the correct placement of the serial comma in the subtitle of this book. Here is a rough, same as in the above Instagram post, without the comma:

And here is the finished version with the comma in all its glory:

Perhaps there's hope for the world yet.


Note:  Obviously, I am not the only fortunate recipient of such a postcard. Other splendid postcards from Liana Finck have been posted on social media here and here. For those who don't care to use social media themselves, Attempted Bloggery welcomes submissions of original drawings by the artist.

Ms. Finck's book tour dates for Excuse Me are listed here on her Instagram account. Follow her on Instagram or on Twitter for updates. Copies of Excuse Me also may be ordered from the usual places.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Liana Finck

Go Ahead! Watch Attempted Bloggery's Index Go Postal.

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A Signed Copy of Liana Finck's Passing for Human

Last week I went to the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, probably for the first time, in order to attend a cartoon event at the bookstore intriguingly named Books Are Magic. Arriving early, I had a little time to quickly scour the bookshelves for treasure. I was immediately rewarded with some copies of Liana Finck's graphic memoir Passing for Human (2018), each signed and with a small drawing of a dog. This is one book I had been looking for since it was published in September, and I was delighted to be able to pick up one of these very desirable copies.

Liana Finck
Passing for Human:  A Graphic Memoir
New York:  Random House, 2018

Signed by Liana Finck with a drawing of a dog

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives: 

Liana Finck

Dogs

Signed Books with Original Drawings

Attempted Bloggery's Passing for Humanistic Index

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The Best American Comics 2016 Signed by Five Contributors

I would have loved to attend the book launch of The Best American Comics 2016 on October 5 at the Strand Bookstore but somehow I didn't have the time. Regretfully, I fell back on the old standby of placing a book order online instead. The book is signed by series editor Bill Kartalopoulos, guest editor Roz Chast, and contributors Liana Finck, Char Esme, and Anne Emond. Of course, it isn't personalized, but it's still a great copy of the book.

The Best American Comics 2016. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016
Cover by Marc Bell

The Best American Comics 2016. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016
Signed by series editor Bill Kartalopoulos, guest editor Roz Chast,
Char Esme, Anne Emond, and Liana Finck

The Event

https://www.strandbooks.com/event/best-american-comics-2016-roz-chast-bill-kartalopoulos

The Pre-Order Form

http://www.strandbooks.com/pre-order-signed/the-best-american-comics-2016

Here's the event I missed:

The Best American Comics 2016

Strand Bookstore

Note:  If you have a copy of this book with a different combination of signers or perhaps any edition of The Best American Comics with an original drawing by a contributor, please forward a crisp scan or photo to the blog management.

Bill Kartalopoulos, Marc Bell, Anne Emond, and Char Esme are new to the blog today. Don't worry—the index has been updated.

Attempted Bloggery's quick links:

Roz Chast

Liana Finck

The Strand

Attempted Bloggery's Comical Index

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My Best Columbia Surgery Cartoon Caption Contest Entries of 2015

Another caption contest? The last thing I need, I told myself, is to start documenting a third cartoon caption contest. I'm already reporting on the New Yorker's challenging weekly contest and on Moment magazine's bimonthly contest. So on July 27 when Columbia Surgery announced on its Facebook page a new weekly caption contest with cartoons created by none other than Benjamin Schwartz—that's Dr. Benjamin Schwartz—I thought I might just play the game quietly without generating another 52 blog posts each year.

I have made no secret of the fact that I don't find anything funny about medical situations—unless of course they involve psychiatrists. Dr. Schwartz's wonderful efforts have done much to change my mind about this. Now five months into the run, I find that I wrote some decent entries and even won the contest a few times. Most importantly, I enjoyed myself. Surely you'll indulge me if I share with you a selection of my captions—just the winners, mind you—as I've become quite fond of some of them.

Here's how the contest works:  there are no published rules. There are no finalists, only winners. There's no prize other than acknowledgement on social media. The contest appears simultaneously on both Facebook and Twitter, each of which usually has its own distinct winner. I enter the Facebook contest only. Twitter usually has fewer entries and may well be easier to ace. A fresh cartoon in need of a caption appears sometime on Monday and a single winner is announced for each contest sometime on Friday.

This is the only caption contest I've seen professional cartoonists take a stab at. It turns out they're not bad at this game. Here for openers are three winning entries by two New Yorker cartoonists who entered the Facebook version of the contest. The first is by Liana Finck from the very first contest that ended on July 31 and, boy, it's a beauty:

The second is by Jason Adam Katzenstein from the contest ending September 25:

The October 30 caption contest winner once more is Liana Finck:

Without further ado, here are my own winning Facebook entries. Please hold your applause until the end.

August 14:

August 28:

September 4:

September 18:

October 2:

October 23:

December 4:

Note:  Want to play along with me? Follow Columbia Surgery on Facebook or, if you're intimidated by me, Twitter.

Today is Jason Adam Katzenstein's first mention on the blog. It's not all it's cracked up to be, Jason. Here's more about caption contests and cartoonists from the blog's archive:
           Benjamin Schwartz
           Liana Finck
           The Caption Contests

           

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Noted in Barnes & Noble

Last weekend I visited one of my favorite Upper East Side haunts, the Barnes & Noble bookstore on 86th Street. Here are a few observations.

Books have a strong aesthetic appeal. They should have a substantial feel in the hand. The printed page should be pleasing to behold. On the shelf, they should look inviting. It is the appearance on the shelf of The Collected Plays of Edward Albee that causes me some consternation. The three-volume set is mismatched, with the second volume being from a different edition. They don't quite look right together; rather they look almost right. In content, the second volume is very likely identical in both the Overlook and the Overlook Duckworth editions. If I were to invest in this set, would I buy it here knowing I'd spend the rest of my life seeing its divergent spines on my shelf? If I needed it quickly for a course, sure I would, but as a thoughtful addition to my library I'd probably hold out a bit for the matching set.

Three-volume set of The Collected Plays of Edward Albee

I understand that booksellers need to protect their stock from theft, but the adhesive security tag in a copy of Liana Finck's A Bintel Brief (2014) defaces the book. It doesn't look as if it would peel off the page harmlessly. It covers a part of the image on a page of a graphic novel. It is carefully placed to be sure, but who wants this at all in a book? Words certainly and, yes, even pictures shouldn't be deliberately obscured. Otherwise, why not buy your copy of the book online and get to see 100% of every page?

Anti-theft security tag in a copy of A Bintel Brief (2014) by Liana Finck

This day-to-day boxed calendar for 2015 offers the prospect of a New Yorker cartoon for every day of the coming year. Just one cartoon? Well, it's a start.

Cartoons from the New Yorker 2015 day-to-day boxed calendar
Cartoon by Paul Karasik

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Liana Finck's A Bintel Brief

One of the pleasures of this month's MoCCA Fest was meeting New Yorker cartoonist and first-time graphic novelist Liana Finck. She had copies of her soon-to-be-published book A Bintel Brief with her. My personalized copy of this intriguing work is proudly shown below.

You can help celebrate the official release of this book on Friday evening April 18 at BookCourt in Brooklyn. Ms. Finck will appear in conversation with cartoonist Liza Donnelly.

Liana Finck's A Bintel Brief:  Love and Longing in Old New York (2014) file image

My copy of Liana Finck's A Bintel Brief:  Love and Longing in Old New York (2014) inscribed with a self-portrait "To Stephen/--Liana."

Note:  Find out what else I saw at MoCCA Fest here.

Read more about Liza Donnelly here.

See posts in celebration of National Library Week here.

Timely posts about Passover may be found here.

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