Picture This The Near-sighted Monkey Book

The creative-drawing companion to the acclaimed and bestselling What It Is Lynda Barry single-handedly created a literary genre all her own, the graphic memoir/how-to, otherwise known as the bestselling, the acclaimed, but most important, the adored and the inspirationalWhat It Is. The R. R. Donnelley and Eisner Awardwinning book posed, explored, and answered the question: "Do you wish you could write?" Now withPicture This, Barry asks: "Do you wish you could draw?" It features the return of Barry's most beloved character, Marlys, and introduces a new one, the Near-sighted Monkey. LikeWhat It Is,Picture Thisis an inspirational, take-home extension of Barry's traveling, continually sold-out, and sought-after workshop, "Writing the Unthinkable."

Cartoonist, novelist, and playwright Lynda Barry is the creator behind the syndicated strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek, featuring the incomparable Marlys and Freddy. Among her published works are the books What It Is (D+Q, 2007), One Hundred Demons, and The Good Times Are Killing Me.

Praise for What It Is:

“The collages in legendary cartoonist Lynda Barry’s What It Is are a bathysphere-like odyssey through the depths of her funky subconscious.” —ELISSA SCHAPPELL, Vanity Fair

“Meditations, stories and images float past in a random fashion, segueing between darkness and hope, or adulthood and childhood, the way they might in dreams or memory.” —CAROL KINO, The New York Times

“What It Is is part diary, part showcase, part manifesto for the power of the imagination. It’s bold and beautiful; angry and sad; joyful and loving and nervous.” —JULIA KELLER, Chicago Tribune