Liza’s lecture at Vassar College in the fall 2005 was so well received that she was hired to be on the English Department Faculty. She will be teaching a Composition course in the fall with Professor Judy Nichols, combining art, prose and poetry.

Liza recently helped organize a very successful cartoon event in Cornwall, Connectictut, one of the homes of James Thurber. The day included cartoon panels featuring political cartoonists, comic strip artists and New Yorker Cartoonists (Liza moderated the New Yorker panel and the panel on The Art In Cartooning)

From Memorial Day until June 17, the Cornwall Free Library in James Thurber’s adopted hometown sponsored the first ever CartoonFest, featuring tri-state area cartoonists and their art. The cartoonists exhibiting include R. O. Blechman, Roz Chast, Liza Donnelly, Bob Englehart, Joe Farris, Dana Fradon, Mort Gerberg, Bill Griffith, Mark Hurwitt, Ed Koren, Cindy Kirk, Bill Lee, Robert Leighton, Lee Lorenz, Bob Mankoff, Michael Maslin, Geoffrey Moss, Diane Noomin, Victoria Roberts, Al Ross, Danny Shanahan, Marc Simont, Elwood Smith, Peter Steiner, and Jack Ziegler.

The exhibit of original cartoon art, most of it for sale, is open regular library hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays 10am to 5pm; Wednesdays 12 noon to 8pm; Saturdays 10am to 2pm.

Most of the cartoonists were on hand on CartoonFest Day, Saturday June 3.

CartoonFest Day Schedule

Saturday, June 3, 10am to 9:30pm
10:00–7:00 pm: Art exhibit & book sale, Thurber show reprise, Library
10:15–11:45 am: Caricatures drawn by Marc Simont, Library
12:00 pm–1:15pm: “Political Cartooning Today” panel, Town Hall
1:30–2:45 pm: “But Is It Art? Cartooning as Creative Process” panel, Town Hall
3:00–4:00 pm: Jazz Jam Session w/Bob Parker Trio, Town Hall
4:00–6:00 pm: Opening reception and silent auction, Library
6:00–7:30 pm: Picnic on the Town Green
7:30 pm: Evening Cartoon Variety Show. Act I: New Yorker cartoonist Victoria Roberts in Nona, her one-woman cabaret show inspired by a cartoon character who was raised by a bumblebee. Act II: New Yorker cartoonists Roz Chast, Liza Donnelly, Dana Fradon, Ed Koren, Robert Leighton, Bob Mankoff, Victoria Roberts, Danny Shanahan, Peter Steiner, Jack Ziegler in a free ranging forum discussion of New Yorker cartooning today. Congregational Meeting House. $20.

P. S. The CartoonFest is being organized by AboutTown’s co-publisher and editorial director, Paul De Angelis.

April 23: American Association of University Women, talk and signing. The Golden Notebook, Woodstock, NY.

Lecture at Bard College, April 19, 5:30 p.m. in the Weis Cinema of the Bertelsmann Campus Center, followed by a book signing and exhibition in the George Ball Lounge, Bertelsmann Campus Center.

March 6: Liza will give a talk with slides about the history of cartoons at the New Yorker–specifically, the female cartoonist of the magazine.

She will discuss her book “Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists and Their Cartoons” (Prometheus Books, Fall, 2005) :

MoCCA Gallery – 594 Broadway Suite 401, 6:30pm and are Free to All! Doors open at 6:15. Attendees are advised to arrive early, as seating is limited.

MoCCA Mondays are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.