Kate Evans is a cartoonist, artist, author and quilter. Back in the 20th century, she was living in a tree on the route of the Newbury Bypass road protest, when she was commissioned by The Guardian newspaper to draw cartoons from the tree tops. The subject of her pen is wide-ranging – from feminist fairy stories, through birth and breastfeeding to refugee relief and revolutionary socialism. Her graphic biography of Rosa Luxemburg, Red Rosa, has been translated into 20 languages. Threads from the Refugee Crisis was the first graphic novel to be nominated for the Orwell Prize for journalism. She does the regular strip “Thoughts from a Broad” for New Internationalist magazine. She is unafraid of tackling serious subjects through the light-hearted medium of comics. “If you can make someone laugh, you’re halfway to changing their mind.”

Evans’ latest project is another meticulously researched and beautiful historical biography, this time of Jane Austen. In Patchwork, Evans illustrates Austen’s story using the fabrics of the quilt that she made, and pieces together the narrative from Austen’s own words. Then, using the new medium of thread painting, she has embroidered a series of fabric meditations on the fabric of society in Regency England. The whole thing stitches together seamlessly to form a stunning new work that will appeal to Austen fans and comics aficionados alike.

Kate Evans Online

Web: cartoonkate.co.uk
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