Miriam Engelberg

From Miriam: I first got interested in autobiographical comics after hearing an interview with Peter Kuper on Fresh Air. When I originally started cartooning, in 1997, I assumed I would collaborate with someone else to create the art, like Harvey Pekar. My son was a baby at the time, and I was planning to write cartoons about parenting. After a friend suggested I do my own drawings, I decided to give it a try. Now I can't imagine doing the writing without the drawing; the two processes go together for me. When I worked a day job at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services teaching computer classes, the Executive Director, Jan Masaoka, asked me to do some cartoons about the nonprofit sector. These eventually became Planet 501c3, which has developed a following among nonprofit staff members around the world. In 2001 I was first diagnosed with breast cancer and started creating cartoons about what it was like to face a cancer diagnosis and go through treatment. Over time those cartoons became the book "Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person." Miriam passed away in San Francisco October 17, 2006.