I’m excited to announce that A.D. will be translated into Dutch. The upstart publisher De Vliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman) is going to be releasing A.D. in The Netherlands some time next year. (They have also done Dutch translations of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Y the Last Man, Stitches, and Logicomix, among others, so it’ll be in good company.)

I find it fitting that an Amsterdam-based publisher would relate to my story of broken levees and flooded cities: in 1953 the Netherlands was flooded when the dikes protecting the southwest of the country were breached by the joint onslaught of hurricane-force winds and exceptionally high spring tides. The flood came in the night without warning, killing 1,835 people. Their very own Katrina… fifty years earlier.

I took A.D. to the Boston area September 8 and 9, my first experience on the Bolt Bus (very cheap, very pleasant). My ol’ pal dj BC (Bob Cronin) was kind enough to host me in his Somerville abode, where I got to hang a bit with his awesome, feisty wife Stacey and their adorable daughter Stella.

My first event was Tuesday night at Brookline Booksmith, a large, extensive store devoted to new and used books. I did my presentation in front of a good crowd of about 30 folks, which included a motley group of characters from various stages in my life, going all the way back to junior high school! It was wonderful catching up with Chris, George, Pete, and A. Dave, as well as fielding questions and signing books for a very engaged group. The best moment of the night was when a girl in the audience, just starting college in Boston after moving up from New Orleans, realized she personally knew Kwame, one of A.D.’s characters!
Read the rest of this entry »

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge has had quite a sprint since its release on August 18. When Josh Neufeld began his book tour I warned him: book tours aren’t necessarily a great way to sell books. No matter how much love and media a project gets, authors often end up reading a book, or discussing their work to just a handful of people. The good news is that didn’t happen at all with A.D. Josh has discussed the making of A.D. to packed houses from New York to New Orleans, selling hundreds of books and having dozens and dozens of conversations about how much the work, and the region that inspired it, mean to them. The above photo is from Octavia Books in New Orleans, where A.D. shares a special place in the hearts of locals as Dave Eggers’ masterful Zeitoun.

The media coverage has been more than just wide-ranging, it’s been thoughtful. In a huge piece that led the New York Times’ Arts section, George Gustines reconstructs the path that took A.D. from web to print, writing that A.D. shows “the magnitude of the catastrophe … on a personal level.” Read the rest of this entry »

Arriving in Chicago Friday, August 28 (earlier than I would’ve liked), I was picked up by my literary escort, who was assigned to get me to the WGN-TV studios for a mid-day news segment. The escort was nothing like what I expected: instead of an effete, rumpled, mustachioed man, Bill was a tall, burly, classic Midwesterner who liked nothing better than talking baseball (specifically the White Sox). He drove me over to the studios where I taped a quick segment on the book. Things went well, but it’s hard for me to watch the tape; they say the camera adds ten pounds, but the way I was slumped back in my chair added at least another ten. Ugh.

The event that night was at the Book Cellar, in Lincoln Park. I’d heard a lot of great things about the place, particularly from Larry Smith and Rachel Fershelisher, who landed there during their Six-Word Memoirs book tour. The Book Cellar serves wine (as well as the usual tea & coffee) while you peruse your favorite books. The event itself went really well, with about 40 people in attendance, including a group old Chicago pals. The crowd was really receptive to the book and ran me through the best Q&A session to date.

The next day was August 29, the actual fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. My only event was an “author coffee” at Amy Davis’s writing workspace, where I walked 11 people through the origins of A.D. Everyone there was a writer of some kind, with a range of interests in self-publishing, web-to-print projects, and comics, and we spent a lively couple of hours chewing the fat.

A.D.’s New York book launch and benefit was held at Idlewild Books on August 25. I had just gotten back from New Orleans the day before and barely had time to catch my breath before diving back into the fray. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way, given this chance to celebrate the book’s release with so many local friends and family. And so many of them did attend, including both sets of my parents, Sari’s folks, most of our brothers and their significant others, a cousin, and many, many friends, both new and old—far too many to list—iincluding a generous helping of my compatriots from the cartooning community. I was truly touched by the outpouring of love and support for the book (and me!).
Read the rest of this entry »