Melissa Mendes: "The Weight"

Join us for a lively discussion celebrating the release of author/artist Melissa Mendes’ just-published The Weight (Drawn & Quarterly). In 2014 Mendes began creating and self-publishing the Ignatz-nominated comic The Weight, now a graphic novel, inspired by her late grandfather’s life. Mendes has portrayed a young woman’s journey to adulthood precipitated by the discovery of a relative’s depression-era diary.

Edie comes into the world calmly as the adults around her rage. Much of Edie’s young life is spent trying to escape her tyrannical father. Of course, being a child means she lives a child’s life — she still has laughter-filled sleepovers and outdoor adventures with the local rat pack of kids, but Edie’s heart grows callous as her father becomes drunker and angrier. Mendes grew up in rural Western Massachusetts pastoral, and her cartooning captures the openness of rural America — soft breezes, tall grass, whirring grasshoppers, rainstorms, skinned knees. All the while, the cruelty, the disappointment of man lurks nearby. Life can be stubbed out as easily as a cigarette tossed in the dirt. Will Edie find herself repeating a cycle, or will she be free like she felt as a child?

About the Author:
Melissa Mendes grew up in rural Western Massachusetts, where she currently lives and works. She started making comics in 2002 at Hampshire College and received her MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2010. She was the recipient of the 2010 Xeric comics self-publishing grant for her book Freddy Stories. In 2014 she began creating and self-publishing the Ignatz-nominated comic The Weight, now a graphic novel, inspired by her late grandfather’s life.

You may also like the following events from MASS MoCA:

• Next Thursday, 14th August, 05:00 pm, Dan Nadel on Robert Crumb in North Adams
• Next Thursday, 14th August, 06:00 pm, The Chalet in North Adams
• Next Saturday, 16th August, 08:00 pm, Roomful of Teeth in North Adams

Also check out other Arts events in North Adams, Literary Art events in North Adams, Workshops in North Adams.