Jewish Women in Comics – Bodies and Borders is an innovative collection of essays, interviews, and artwork examining Jewish women’s comics. Edited by Sarah Lightman, Heike Bauer and Andrea Greenbaum, it is published by Syracuse University Press.
In this groundbreaking collection of essays, interviews, and artwork, contributors draw upon a rich treasure trove of Jewish women’s comics to explore the representation of Jewish women’s bodies and bodily experience in pictorial narratives. Spanning national, cultural, and artistic borders, the essays shine a light on the significant contributions of Jewish women to comics.
The volume includes major figures such as Miriam Katin, Emil Ferris, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and Rutu Modan alongside works by artists translated for the first time into English, such as artist Rona Mor. Exploring topics such as family, motherhood, miscarriages, queerness, gender and Judaism, illness, war, Haredi and Orthodox family life, and the lingering impact of the Holocaust, the contributors present unique, at times intensely personal, insights into how Jewishness intersects with other forms of identity and identification. In doing so, the volume deepens our understanding of Jewish women’s experiences.
Jewish Art Salon member Sarah Lightman is an artist, writer, and curator. She is a faculty member at the Royal Drawing School in London. She is the author of The Book of Sarah and editor of the Eisner Award-winning volume Graphic Details: Jewish Women’s Confessional Comics in Essays and Interviews.
