Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt

A graphic memoir about love and loss

Image | BOOK COVER: Something, Not Nothing by Sarah Leavitt

Caption: (Arsenal Pulp Press)

In April 2020, cartoonist Sarah Leavitt's partner of twenty-two years, Donimo, died with medical assistance after years of severe chronic pain and a rapid decline at the end of her life. About a month after Donimo's death, Sarah began making comics again as a way to deal with her profound sense of grief and loss. The comics started as small sketches but quickly transformed into something totally unfamiliar to her. Abstract images, textures, poetic text, layers of watercolour, ink, and coloured pencil - for Sarah, the journey through grief was impossible to convey without bold formal experimentation. She spent two years creating these comics.
The result is Something, Not Nothing, an extraordinary book that delicately articulates the vagaries of grief and the sweet remembrances of enduring love. Moving and impressionistic, Something, Not Nothing shows that alongside grief, there is room for peace, joy, and new beginnings. (From Arsenal Pulp Press)
Sarah Leavitt is a Vancouver comics creator and writing teacher. Her debut book was Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me.

Interview with Sarah Leavitt

Media Audio | Bookends with Mattea Roach : Sarah Leavitt: Illustrating grief too wide for words

Caption: The Canadian graphic novelist talks with Mattea Roach about life with their late partner, who had an assisted death, and using art to confront grief in Something, Not Nothing

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.