UW–Madison’s Lynda Barry is the recipient of the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, which is chosen by a secret ballot of the members of the National Cartoonists Society.
This recognition is considered by many to be the cartooning profession’s highest honor.
The award was presented to Barry online on Sept. 12, at the finale of NCSFEST 2020, the virtual cartooning festival hosted by the National Cartoonists Society and the NCS Foundation. As she accepted the award, Barry said, “One of the things that’s so beautiful about comics is that whatever may be missing from your world, you might be able to find it in comics.”
Barry is an associate professor of interdisciplinary creativity and holds the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in the School of Education’s Art Department. In September 2019, she received a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, which is often referred to as a “genius grant.” She is perhaps most widely known for her weekly comic strip that appeared in alternative newspapers, “Ernie Pook’s Comeek,” and her graphic novels such as “The Good Times Are Killing Me” and “The Greatest of Marlys.”
Learn more about Barry’s work and the Reuben Award in an article on the National Cartoonists Society website, here.
And make sure and check out her virtual acceptance speech here.