Can a cartoonist be a novelist? Charles Johnson thinks so.
Johnson is a University of Washington emeritus literature professor, a philosopher, an essayist, a short-story writer and a novelist of significant renown, having won the National Book Award for his book, “Middle Passage.” He is also, proudly, a cartoonist.
In younger days, Johnson drew cartoons for student newspapers and publications that served African American audiences, such as Ebony and Black World. Then, he found his literary voice and a prestigious writing career began.
I met Johnson about five years ago. He was pleased to meet me because he seldom gets a chance to talk about cartoons. In passing and almost apologetically, I mentioned to him that I had a novel I’d been working on. Johnson quickly told me that I should get serious about it; that a novel is the rare chance to tell a story and get every word right.
Well, I did get serious, and now I have published my debut novel, “Beach of Stars.” Johnson has called it “amazingly good.” Another local author and National Book Award winner, Timothy Egan, (after showing some skepticism that a cartoonist could also write) read my book and dubbed it “a masterful bit of storytelling … a wonderful novel, with rich, compelling characters, covering a great tableau of time and terrain.”
As you can imagine, I am relieved that neither man patted me on the head and said “go back to the drawing board.”
Instead, I’m going to a couple of book-release events and I’d be pleased if Seattle Times readers who have followed my work would join me. The first will be at Elliott Bay Book Company on Capitol Hill on Friday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m., where I’ll be interviewed by author and journalist Monica Guzman. The second will be at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. There, I’ll be interviewed by Nancy Guppy, a former member of the Almost Live comedy team and currently the host of Art Zone on the Seattle Channel.
I’ll also be doing an event at the University Book Store in early March, date and time to be determined soon.
“Beach of Stars” is on sale at all the usual places, but it would be great to meet some Times readers in person, so come on down.
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
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