Kristen Radtke
“I don’t think choosing forms is ever a conscious decision, at least not for me. The best thing I can do for myself is follow my intuition — to write, or draw, in the direction I feel compelled to move...I think we have to do whatever we can to carve out a space in which we can create, and guard it ferociously.”
“Kristen Radtke’s Seek You seems almost to invent something brand new: the comic strip feature documentary? The long-form graphic essay? I dunno, and it really doesn’t matter, because the humanity so keenly summed up in every line and mark of Radtke’s hand transcendently transmutes both the seriousness of her investigatory aim and the genuine desperation which underpins its timely yet universal thesis—all the while magnified by the skill, empathy and great intelligence of its author.Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
“Kristen Radtke’s Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness defies categorization — and it does so in spectacular fashion . . . The beauty of Seek You is that it feels like a communal experience. Reading this book is reading about ourselves and our lives . . . The art is superb and each section uses different colors to set the mood, but words take center stage more often than the art, and that turns the art into the perfect companion . . . Seek You accomplishes a lot and its unique hybrid nature makes it a must-read.”Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
“Radtke is, first and foremost, a superhuman of illustration, a grandmaster like Adrian Tomine or Chris Ware. Her photo-based, exquisitely executed drawings appear more realistic and seductive than photographs could ever hope to be. . . Gorgeously eerie. . . . A portrait of a powerful mind grappling with alienation and loneliness.”
“The most beautiful graphic novel you’ll read all year, Kristen Radtke’s memoir is an absolutely stunning look at what it is to recover from grief, and is so haunting you’ll be thinking about it for days after reading it.”
Kristen Radtke’s most recent book is the widely acclaimed Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness (Pantheon, 2021), which The Los Angeles Times praised as “[A] resonant, haunting volume of graphic nonfiction written and drawn in the key of Edward Hopper.” It is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant and was on numerous most anticipated lists, including Vogue, The Washington Post and NPR. Her first book is the genre-smashing graphic memoir, Imagine Wanting Only This (Pantheon, 2017), a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a Nylon Most Anticipated Book. The Chicago Tribune raved, "Imagine Wanting Only This [is] one of the most haunting graphic memoirs I've ever read. . . . There is a proud tradition of graphic memoirists—of those dually equipped to wield word and image—to tell the true and deeply considered story of a life. Alison Bechdel, Roz Chast, Riad Sattouf, David Small, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman and others have done it searingly well. And now to that list add Radtke, who proves herself an equal among equals with this debut book. . . ." Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, The Atlantic, The Guardian, GQ, Vogue, Oxford American, and many other places.
When asked to reflect on the experience of publishing her first book, Radtke explains, “I think the blessing of all of this is that I’m never going to write my first book ever again. First books are messy things. Next time I’ll be less concerned about making things as neat and tidy as possible, which was definitely a real fear for me on this first book. I’ll try to maybe not let it drive me so crazy.”
Radtke received an MFA from the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program. She is the former managing editor of Sarabande Books and is currently the art director at the Verge. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
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