Photo Credit: Craig Semetko

Liza Donnelly is a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. Her cartoons have appeared regularly in the magazine since 1982, at which time she was the youngest and one of only three women cartoonists at the magazine. Ms. Donnelly’s work has appeared in many other national publications, including The New York Times, The Nation, Audubon, Glamour, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, National Lampoon, American Photographer, Scholastic News, Cobblestone, etc. She has drawn regular cartoon features for the websites of TONEaudio.com, Oxygen Network, Parenting Magazine and American Photographer. Many collections of cartoons include her work, and she has exhibited in numerous group shows throughout the country.

Ms. Donnelly conceived of and edited three collections of cartoons for Ballantine Books called “Mothers and Daughters”, “Fathers and Sons” and “Husbands and Wives” (the last two with Michael Maslin). “Husbands and Wives” and another collection for Andrews and McMeel entitled “Call Me When You Reach Nirvana” were collections of Ms. Donnelly’s and Mr. Maslin’s cartoons. She has illustrated numerous adult humorous books as well.

In the area of childrens’ books, Ms. Donnelly wrote and illustrated seven books for Scholastic, Inc. They are: “Dinosaur Day”, “Dinosaur Beach”, “Dinosaurs’ Halloween”, “Dinosaur Garden”, “Dinosaur Thanksgiving”, “Dinosaur Christmas”, “Dinosaurs’ Valentine”. The series sold over two million copies.

Ms. Donnelly speaks frequently at schools on the subject of writing and illustrating childrens’ books, presenting talks and giving workshops.

Donnelly also speaks on topics such as women and humor and The New Yorker, and has given talks at the Thurber House, and the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists annual convention, Vassar College, Bard College, The Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art, The Norman Rockwell Museum and elsewhere. She has been a guest panelist at the Cartoon Event of The New Yorker Festival several times. Ms. Donnelly gave an interview on New Channel Four New York’s Sunday Morning show to promote her book “Husbands and Wives”, and has done numerous radio interviews.

Ms. Donnelly wrote a history of the women cartoonists of the New Yorker, titled “Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists and Their Cartoons”, published by Prometheus Books, October 2005. It is widely considered a “must have” for historians of the magazine and cartoon fans. Donnelly wrote an article on Helen Hokinson that appeared in a November, 2002 issue of The New Yorker. Her new book, “Sex and sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love in 200 Cartoons” (Twelve Books, 2007) is about love and sex today as viewed by 10 prominent women cartoonists.

In 2007, Ms. Donnelly was invited to participate in an initiative called Cartooning for Peace, begun by French cartoonist Jean Plantu. The ten cartoonists spoke at the United Nations, and, with the accompanying exhibition, travel worldwide speaking to groups about freedom of speech, global issues and cartooning and peace. The group has appeared in Atlanta, Paris, Rome, Brussels and hope to travel to Istanbul, Ramala and Australia. Ms. Donnelly, Plantu and Michel Kichka are working on a book about the initiative with Emory University.

Ms. Donnelly has been a member of the Authors Guild since 1984, and was a founding member of the Cartoonists Association. Ms. Donnelly teaches women studies and Cartoons in American Culture at Vassar College.

She lives in New York with her husband, New Yorker cartoonist Michael Maslin, and their two daughters.