Welcome back to the show.
Stories come in all shapes and sizes, right?
Well, we love to cover all
of them here on new day,
and that includes graphic novels, too.
Here to tell us about her brand new book,
which is out today,
and it's called who will make
the pancakes is seattleite
and author Megan Kelso.
Welcome to new day.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's exciting. Congratulations on the
book being out. What is it about? Well,
it's 5 short stories.
Graphic short stories.
So comics and they're all quite different.
But I would say the theme that ties
them all together is motherhood.
I think that is something that not,
it's not what I expected when looking
at the cover when you're reading it.
But as a mother, you always do wonder
who's going to make the pancakes, right?
Well, yeah. That's in a way became kind of
my metaphor for caretaking and nurturing.
I really love pancakes, and I think
I'm one of those people who shows love.
Through food. And yeah, it just yeah,
it's my metaphor for caretaking. Talk to me
about the illustrations. Oh well, I was
just explaining to your producer actually,
that the cover I intentionally made a
little bit risque because who will make the
pancakes is a bit of a whimsical title.
And I didn't want people to mistake
this for children's book because
it is not a children's book.
It has mature themes and it
is very much for adults.
And so yeah, but I I have a lot of
different drawing styles in the book.
And the reason is that I I got
tired of coloring all my comics
on the computer and I wanted to
get back to working on paper.
So it's different ways of working on paper,
watercolor, colored pencil,
pen and ink
and all those different mediums kind
of just elicit a different vibe,
right? Totally. Yeah. Yeah.
So you would mention that
the book is is is not.
For children. But who is it for?
Is it for mothers?
Is it forefathers?
Who is it for is for readers?
I would say the kind of comics I
do are more on the literary side.
So people who like to read novels,
I think would really enjoy it.
And I think it's interesting as as kids
we loved reading the comics, right?
And I think it resonates with
us in a way where it it helps.
We were talking about this before we
started taping about how the the images.
The art kind of help you read
the story in a different way.
Yeah. I think.
I don't know exactly why,
but images work in your brain
differently than words,
and they sometimes hit harder,
which is why, you know, for example,
a sex scene in a novel reads really
differently than a sex scene in
a comic because seeing the images
just intense, you know?
And as cartoonists,
we have to be aware of
that and sometimes like.
Maybe pull back a little because
people aren't often used to the that
sort of power that an image has,
especially combined with words,
you know,
to make a narrative.
Yeah, you said that this is 5 short
stories and it's about motherhood
as how much of your experience as a
mother and maybe even your own mother
helped contribute to this. Well,
my mother is. She kind of hovers
over the entire book. I have to say.
They always do. They do.
I I sometimes embarrassed to admit it,
but she kind of became my muse and
just sort of early on like in my 20s,
I I I kind of had the space to start
thinking back over my childhood
and and see her as a real person
and was kind of fascinated by her.
So a lot of the kernels of the
stories start with like stories
she told me about her childhood.
And yeah
isn't it funny as we get older and
I'm sure you all feel this too and
especially when you become a parent.
That's when you really start seeing
your mom as a real human being.
It's yeah, it's, it's crazy.
It's like you make a kind of
paradigm shift and you can see
your parents in a more real way.
And you're like, I'm so sorry, because
now I'm going through the same thing.
Education is part of this. What kind
of message are you trying to convey?
Ohh. Well, there's a story in
this book about a teacher and he,
you know, he was really interested in,
in passing on to the US this idea of
how important risk is in your life.
Like it's important to take on risk.
Yeah, he taught us how to rock climb,
but at the same time he betrayed our trust.
And so a a big theme in that story
is just the sort of relationship
between risk and trust.
That is a really hard line. To walk.
Yeah. And I think unfortunately,
this, you know, it happens a lot.
It's a somewhat universal story coming
of age and being betrayed by someone
who you really love and trust. So.
Oh, man. Well, that's what
books are so important for us,
helping us kind of work through
those own issues that we all have.
Yeah. Yeah, I think so, too. All
right. Well, before I let you go,
I know that you have an event
coming up. Will you tell us about
it? Yes. Short run. Comics.
An arts festival is this Saturday,
November 5th. It's free.
It's at the Seattle Center in Fisher
Pavilion, and it's comics creators,
and most of them make their own books.
And so the artists are right there
at the table to talk to you,
and it's amazing.
If you're interested in art,
you should go.
And then on Sunday, the day after,
I'm being interviewed at the downtown Seattle
Public Library as part of a short run.
Event it's it's from one to
three and I'm going to be
interviewed by Phyllis Fletcher,
who's a local radio personality.
That'll
be fantastic. Well,
thank you so much for for coming.
The book is who will make the pancakes.
Megan Kelso, thank you so much.
Thank you. Alright.