“Interplay between grief and silliness”

Tyler Feder’s Dancing at the Pity Party is her debut graphic memoir published by Penguin Random House in 2020. Her poignant narrative which delineates the sociocultural notions on death and personal expressions of grief won several accolades including the Sydney Taylor Young Adult Book Award and the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction nomination. Feder’s critically acclaimed narratives such as Bodies Are Cool and Are You Mad at Me? and other humourous illustrations in Unladylike and Together We March explore feminism, body image, pop culture, and mental health. In this interview, Tyler Feder shares her dual role as a daughter who had to process the loss of her mother and as a comic artist who had to represent the challenges posed by the social silence on death and grieving in her memoir, Dancing at the Pity Party. The conversation reflects on the transformative power of art and the role of an artist in debunking irrational social myths surrounding illness and death

Grief · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · African history and culture analysis · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions