It's been a long time since you've seen an author interview here on Book Dreams, but we were recently given the chance to interview Roz Chast, and who could possibly say no to that?! Roz is a beloved New Yorker cartoonist with a style all her own, and Eve and Julie have both been big fans of her work for decades. She is as funny, insightful, and distinctive in person as she is in her drawings, and it was a joy to get to speak with her. Take a listen to hear about everything from her latest book, in which she illustrates her dream world; to what it's like to submit cartoons and cover art to The New Yorker; to the role anxiety plays in her cartoons and in her life.
Roz Chast is a cartoonist for The New Yorker and has published more than a thousand cartoons in the magazine since 1978. She is also the author of a number of books, including Going Into Town, What I Hate from A to Z, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant, which won the National Book Critics Circle award and the Kirkus Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her latest book, I Must Be Dreaming, is a USA Today bestseller, a New Yorker Best Book of the Year, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, and a Washington Post Best Graphic Book of the Year.
The Miami Book Fair is an “eight day literary party” founded by Miami Dade College that’s been held every November in Miami, Florida since 1984. The Fair plays host to more than 450 international authors reading and discussing their work, as well as more than 250 publishers and booksellers exhibiting and selling books, with special appearances by antiquarians showcasing signed first editions, original manuscripts, and other collectibles. Many thanks to our friends at Miami Book Fair for coordinating this episode with Roz.
I Must Be Dreaming
*A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
*A New Yorker Best Book of the Year
*A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
*A Washington Post Best Graphic Book of the Year
"It perhaps comes as no surprise that the cartoonist Roz Chast―into whose unique and zany mind readers of The New Yorker have peeked, via her instantly recognizable, beloved cartoons―has some weird dreams. Now, fans can see these dreams illustrated, along with an exploration into the history and meaning of dreams as we know them." - The New Yorker, "Best Books of the Year"
"We give ourselves blissfully over to Chast as our tour guide through the ‘Dream District of our brains.’ Drawing in her familiar vibratory style, she details a bizarre series of oneiric adventures, including one in which Glenn Close’s ‘chest and face were covered with thousands of baby spiders,’ and another in which she has to care for a murderous ‘baby from the future.’" - Washington Post, Best Graphic Novels of 2023
"[Chast] has proved herself to be one of the funniest and most acute observers of modern urban living's insanities and anxieties. Now she has turned her gaze away from the streets and characters of her beloved New York City and toward her own sleeping mind . . . But Chast is Chast, and the sleeping world she depicts is only somewhat more absurd – and equally as funny and profound – as waking life." - David Marchese, New York Times Magazine
