'Menopause: A Comic Treatment' is a New York Times Best Graphic Novel of 2020

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The critics of the New York Times Book Review have included "Menopause: A Comic Treatment" on their year-end list of the best graphic novels of 2020. Edited by MK Czerwiec and featuring contributions from Lynda Barry, Leslie Ewing, Joyce Farmer, Ellen Forney, Teva Harrison, Ajuan Mance, Mimi Pond, and many others, "Menopause" was released in August 2020 as part of Penn State University Press’s Graphic Medicine series.

The collection of short comics unapologetically depicts the condition and all its attendant symptoms in order to combat social stigma and empower those undergoing menopause.

Hillary Chute of the New York Times calls "Menopause" "eclectic and often humorous," and she praises editor and former nurse MK Czerwiec’s inclusion of genderqueer and trans perspectives. In a recent interview with Smash Pages: The Comics Super Blog, Czerwiec says, "I wanted the wisdom of other experiences. . . . . I knew I could only tell a part of the story, and I wanted a bigger picture." Czerwiec has been making comics since 2000, often under the pseudonym Comic Nurse. She is the author of the autobiographical graphic novel "Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371" and a co-author of the Eisner-nominated "Graphic Medicine Manifesto," both of which were also published in the PSU Press Graphic Medicine series.

Learn more about PSU Press and the Graphic Medicine series at psupress.org.