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Okay so I really dropped the ball on consistent monthly Non-Fiction by Non-Men interviews since my book came out but hey that doesn’t mean I am any less excited about this conversation with Robin Lee Carlson!!!

Robin Lee Carlson is a natural science writer, illustrator, and the author of The Cold Canyon Fire Journals, a close study of fire ecology in the Western environment based on six years’ careful observation, research, and illustration at Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, which burned in 2015 and again in 2020. After studying evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz and the University of Chicago, Carlson spent many years working on stream habitat restoration projects in California. She is most interested in how landscapes and ecological communities change over time, especially ecosystem dynamics after disruption. Her artwork is grounded in observing and documenting the world around her as it unfolds. Visit her website at www.robinleecarlson.com.

The post Non-Fiction by Non-Men: Robin Lee Carlson appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

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I had the best time talking with Forsyth Harmon about her cats (living and dead), writing vs. drawing, 90s aesthetics, and her new illustrated novel Justine! The interview is up on Chicago Review of Books and Justine is available now from Tin House. Thank you so much to CHIRB editors Sara Batkie and Jen Cox-Shah for their help with this piece.

Check it out! I mean, it’s worth reading the interview for this photo alone:

The post Interview with Forsyth Harmon in Chicago Review of Books! appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

I was so sad to hear this morning about the death of Jason Polan. I didn’t know Jason Polan personally, but his art and Instagram presence (@jasonpolan) made my life better. His drawings are deceptively simple but full of humor and love for the quirky weirdness of the world. He’s perhaps best known for his project trying to draw every person in New York which felt like a love letter to the whole city and all of humanity.

My friend Janna Herman and I used to direct message his Instagram posts to each other when we knew the other needed a good laugh––he would write long, rambling, hilarious stories in the captions of his photos about the people and things he saw around New York––and it was always our goal to go to one of his Taco Bell Drawing Club meetings, but the timing never worked. Janna did get to meet him once, when she bought me the little giraffe notebook I have framed in my home, and she said he was so nice and unpretentious and clearly wanted everyone to be able to afford a piece of his art.

I am upset knowing that Jason Polan is gone, but I’ll think of him every time I adjust the temperature in my apartment.

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