Nicole Hollander facts for kids

Nicole Hollander (born April 25, 1939) is an American cartoonist and writer. She is best known for her daily comic strip Sylvia. This popular strip was published in newspapers across the country.

About Nicole Hollander

Early Life and Education

Nicole Hollander's Sylvia from The Whole Enchilada (1982)

Nicole Hollander was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Henry Garrison, was a labor activist. This means he worked to improve conditions for workers. Nicole grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago. She went to public schools there.

She studied art in college. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1960. Later, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1966.

Creating Sylvia

In the 1970s, Nicole worked as a graphic designer. She helped create a magazine called The Spokeswoman. This magazine focused on equal rights for women. While working, she started adding her own political drawings.

Around 1978, she created a comic strip called The Feminist Funnies. In this strip, she introduced the character who would become Sylvia. Her first book, I'm in Training to Be Tall and Blonde, featured these comics. It became very popular. Because of this success, her Sylvia comic strip started appearing daily in newspapers in 1981.

Nicole also drew comics for Mother Jones magazine. Many of these did not include the Sylvia character.

Her Work and Teaching

Nicole Hollander has given her original drawings and papers to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. This museum is at Ohio State University. Some of her drawings are also kept at the Library of Congress.

She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2011, she taught a class on writing graphic novels. She has also led workshops and taught at many other places. These include Ohio State University and Columbia College Chicago. She often speaks to groups about her work.

Retirement

On March 26, 2012, Nicole Hollander announced her retirement. She stopped publishing new Sylvia strips in newspapers. However, she still shares old strips on her blog. She says many of them are still important today. She also posts new strips sometimes.

Her Books

Nicole Hollander has published 19 collections of her Sylvia comics. Some well-known ones include The Whole Enchilada (1982) and Tales from the Planet Sylvia (1990). Her book The Sylvia Chronicles (2010) covers 30 years of her comics.

She also wrote Tales of Graceful Aging from the Planet Denial (2007). Nicole has illustrated many books for other writers too. These include children's books and books about cats.

For a full list of her works, you can visit List of works by Nicole Hollander.

We Ate Wonder Bread

In 2018, Nicole Hollander published a special book. It's a graphic memoir called We Ate Wonder Bread: Growing Up on Chicago's West Side. A graphic memoir is a true story told through drawings and words, like a long comic book.

Nicole started this project at an artist colony. She enjoyed drawing her childhood story. She said it was a wonderful way to create.

Another famous cartoonist, Alison Bechdel, called We Ate Wonder Bread a "superhero origin story." She said that Sylvia, Nicole's character, has amazing powers. She also noted that Nicole's humor comes from the lively conversations of the women she grew up with. Nicole explains that if women hadn't taken their daughters everywhere, she wouldn't have heard their stories. She learned to use their language in her comics.

You can also find videos of Nicole Hollander performing her memoirs. These are on the YouTube channel Louder Than a Mom.

Awards and Recognition

Nicole Hollander's work has inspired several stage musicals. These include Female Problems and Sylvia's Real Good Advice. The latter won a Joseph Jefferson Award in 1991.

She has also received other awards. These include the Wonder Woman Foundation Award in 1983. She also received Yale's Chubb Fellowship for Public Service in 1985.

See also

• List of female comics creators