Kate Beaton – författare

Innan Kate Beaton blev till, den kritikerrosade serietecknaren vars underhållande samlingsalbum Hark! A Vagrant klättrat ända upp i toppen av New York Times bästsäljarlista, fanns en Katie Beaton från Cape Breton, och mer specifikt Mabou, ett litet slutet kustsamhälle med lika gott om hummer som stränder, fioler och gaeliska folkvisor. Med ett enda mål, att betala av sitt studielån, reser Katie västerut för att sko sig på Alberta-provinsens oljerusch, ett klassiskt inslag i östkustbornas långa tradition av att leta efter lukrativa anställningar på annat håll när de inte lyckas få jobb i sin älskade hembygd. Väl framme erfar Katie den bistra verkligheten i livet vid oljesandfälten, där trauman är vardag men aldrig diskuteras.

I Änder: Två år i oljesandfälten får Beaton fullt utlopp för sitt hantverk då hon ritar kolossala maskiner och mammutfordon mot en sublim backdrop bestående av Albertas tajga och nordiska ljus. Hennes första längre berättelse i serieformat är ett avslöjande porträtt av det Kanada som gärna stoltserar med solidaritet och vackra landskap, samtidigt som det hänsynslöst exploaterar både sin natur och sina medborgare.

Röster om Änder: Två år i oljesandfälten

"Ett mästerverk. En nattlampa som lyser i mörkret." Patricia Lockwood

"En exceptionellt vacker bok om ensamhet, arbete och överlevnad. Kate Beaton är en insiktsfull guide genom ett komplext landskap av klass och kön och själva sidorna strålar av sorg och smärta." Carmen Maria Machado

"I Änder säger Beaton inte åt oss hur kapitalismen utvinner, utnyttjar, varufierar och främmandegör. Inte heller visar hon. Hon återskapar livet vid ett oljesandfält i korniga detaljer och överlämnar till läsaren att dra slutsatserna, som hon själv tvingades göra när hon som tjugoettåring dök upp där i jakt på jobb." Alison Bechdel

A laugh-out-loud, wonderfully absurd graphic novel about an indoor cat named Meatball who escapes outside to be a wild cat, where he poops wherever he wants, hunts for his meals (badly), and learns the true meaning of home, by bestselling comics creator Kate Beaton.Meatball lives a tough life. Each day, his family's three children love him, cherish him, and give him cuddles. It's agony. But there is one thing he looks forward to: mealtime, also known as Nummy Num Time.When a nature documentary helps Meatball awaken his Inner Wild Cat, Meatball escapes into the wild to live as he was always meant to. He'll have no trouble surviving, right?It turns out there's a lot Meatball has to learn. His food isn't served to him, and there's no place comfy to sleep. Luckily, the forest is full of animals who know all about being wild. But the longer Meatball lives outside, the more he wonders: Was life with humans really that bad?

A laugh-out-loud, wonderfully absurd graphic novel about an indoor cat named Meatball who escapes outside to be a wild cat, where he poops wherever he wants, hunts for his meals (badly), and learns the true meaning of home, by bestselling comics creator Kate Beaton.Meatball lives a tough life. Each day, his family's three children love him, cherish him, and give him cuddles. It's agony. But there is one thing he looks forward to: mealtime, also known as Nummy Num Time.When a nature documentary helps Meatball awaken his Inner Wild Cat, Meatball escapes into the wild to live as he was always meant to. He'll have no trouble surviving, right?It turns out there's a lot Meatball has to learn. His food isn't served to him, and there's no place comfy to sleep. Luckily, the forest is full of animals who know all about being wild. But the longer Meatball lives outside, the more he wonders: Was life with humans really that bad?

The teeny tiniest of adorable farting ponies gives the biggest of laughs in this riotously inventive new title from Kate Beaton, the artist behind the bestselling Hark! A Vagrant.Fall in love with a teeny-tiny, roly-poly, cutie pie of a farting pony in this wickedly funny tale from Kate Beaton, the artist behind the comic phenomenon Hark! A Vagrant. Princess Pinecone knows exactly what she wants for her birthday this year. Not a cosy sweater like always, but a horse: a big horse, a strong horse, a horse fit for a Warrior Princess! But when the day arrives, Pinecone doesn't quite get the horse of her dreams... Brave Viking warriors and big surprises abound in this laugh-out-loud title.

FEATURED ON MORE THAN TWENTY BEST-OF LISTS, INCLUDING TIME, AMAZON, E! AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY!Hark! A Vagrant is an uproarious romp through history and literature seen through the sharp, contemporary lens of New Yorker cartoonist and comics sensation Kate Beaton. No era or tome emerges unscathed as Beaton rightly skewers the Western world's revolutionaries, leaders, sycophants, and suffragists while equally honing her wit on the hapless heroes, heroines, and villains of the best-loved fiction.She deftly points out what really happened when Brahms fell asleep listening to Liszt, that the world's first hipsters were obviously the Incroyables and the Merveilleuses from eighteenth-century France, that Susan B. Anthony is, of course, a "Samantha," and that the polite banality of Canadian culture never gets old. Hark! A Vagrant features sexy Batman, the true stories behind classic Nancy Drew covers, and Queen Elizabeth doing the albatross. As the 500,000 unique monthly visitors to harkavagrant.com already know, no one turns the ironic absurdities of history and literature into comedic fodder as hilariously as Beaton.

Six months on the New York Times bestseller list! Featured on 25 best of the year lists!“Somewhere in my heart is a folder titled Things I Did Not Know I Wanted and it is full of Kate Beaton comics… Sharp, charming, and weird, Step Aside, Pops is a fine sampling of Beaton's work, and I can't recommend it enough.” —NPR“Nobody’s ever gotten so much comedy out of omitting punctuation.” —New York TimesIda B. Wells, the Black Prince, and Benito Juárez burst off the pages of Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection, armed with modern-sounding quips and amusingly on-point repartee. Kate Beaton's second D+Q book brings her hysterically funny gaze to bear on these and even more historical, literary, and contemporary figures. Irreverently funny and carefully researched, no target is safe from Beaton's incisive wit in these satirical strips.Beaton began her infectiously popular web comic, Hark! A Vagrant, in 2007 and it quickly attracted the adoration of hundreds of thousands of fans. It was an unequivocal hit with critics and fans alike, topping best-of-the-year lists from E!, Amazon, Time, and more. Now Beaton returns with a refined pen, ready to make jokes at the expense of hunks, army generals, scientists, and Canadians in equal measure. With a few carefully placed lines, she captures the over-the-top evil of the straw feminists in the closet, the disgruntled dismay of Heathcliff, and Wonder Woman's all-conquering ennui. Step Aside, Pops is sure to be the comedic hit of the year: sharp, insightful, and very funny.

A New York Times Notable book! One of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2022! Winner of Canada Reads 2023!“An exceptionally beautiful book about loneliness, labor, and survival.“—Carmen Maria MachadoBefore there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark! A Vagrant, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beaton, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush—part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed.Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.