|
|
| Christi Furnas | |
Christi Furnas is a queer cartoonist, illustrator, oil painter, and disability rights advocate who has exhibited in galleries across Minnesota and in New York City. Her comics reflect her experience with schizophrenia. In 2016, she was awarded an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to start her debut graphic novel, Crazy Like a Fox: Adventures in Schizophrenia. It is available now from Street Noise Books.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
This graphic novel about my coming-of-age with schizophrenia follows Fox Foxerson and uses humor and fun critters to entertain, educate and fight stigma.
On your nightstand now:
This is a trick question for me. My brain works visually. Before I decided to take on writing and drawing a graphic novel, I was an oil painter. I coined my work "figurative expressionism." I have a lot of coffee-table art books. I look at the pictures. I don't collect books on my nightstand because the later in the day it gets, the more symptoms I have. It makes it difficult to focus. Reading is impossible. Having said that, I do have one book next to the bed; Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems. My wife, Ruth, reads it to me on nights when I'm having trouble with hallucinations or paranoia. It helps me focus and makes me laugh every time we read it together.
During the day I'm currently reading the graphic novel anthology Comics for Choice. I'm also revisiting Silence, Full Stop. by Karina Shor. I first read Karina's graphic memoir in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. Now I'm going back to study the illustrations.
Favorite book when you were a child:
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. I think I really loved the rebellion and freedom that Ralph felt when he jumped on the bike. I also liked reading the noise of the motorcycle out loud. And Choose Your Own Adventure books for obvious reasons.
Your top five authors:
Art Spiegelman, David Sedaris, Roz Chast, Alison Bechdel, Edward Gorey.
Book you've faked reading:
Little House on the Prairie books as a child.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Maus by Art Spiegelman. This should be required reading for everyone, especially people who think graphic novels are beneath them.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris. The illustrations are by Ian Falconer. Creepy, lovely, a splash of humor and delicately beautiful.
Book you hid from your parents:
Wifey by Judy Blume. I had read all of her children's books, so puberty suggested that I sneak a peek at her soft dirt novel for grown-ups. And my mom probably knew. She knew everything. And we went to the library since I was an infant, so I would not hesitate to guess that she approved of me reading adult literature like Wifey.
Book that changed your life:
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I thought that as long as I could capture thoughts with illustrations I might fancy myself a poet someday. Ha! But honestly, as a child I found it really inspiring and entertaining, reading it again and again, as children do. As a young adult, when I was introduced to Maus, it gripped me. I didn't understand the impact it had until much later.
Favorite line from a book:
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you." --from Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Five books you'll never part with:
Five?
1. Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems
2. My grandmother's Holy Bible. It has her notes in the margin.
3. There's a Monster at the End of This Book by Grover from Sesame Street. I love breaking that wall between reader and the page.
4. We Are on Our Own by Miriam Katin. This is a graphic memoir about her escaping the Nazis with her mother when she was a child. I was in an art exhibit with her in New York City in 2017. I have a lot of admiration for Miriam. What a wonderful human.
5. My wife, Ruth, has a memoir that has yet to be published and I've read a million drafts. It's beautiful and hilarious; it's about us.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. So funny. It had me in tears and I wish I could read it and experience the full belly laughs for the first time.