D+Q to publish Rachel Ang

Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly have acquired world English-language, and ex-ANZ rights to two books by Melbourne-based cartoonist Rachel Ang. A short story collection provisionally titled What You Seek (Is Seeking You) will be published in 2024. The second book, original graphic novel Funeral, will follow. Ang’s comics have been published in the New Yorker, Washington Post, and the Eisner Award winning anthology Drawing Power.

“Rachel looks at bodies and our experiences in them with such raw and often haunting honesty. The alienation, dysmorphia, and microaggressions that people experience as their bodies move through this world, and out of it,” acquiring senior editor Tracy Hurren said. “Rachel’s cartooning is intuitive and lush, their characters are masterful. I can’t wait to see them bring these books to life.”

What You Seek (Is Seeking You) is a clear-eyed look at dating, beauty standards, mental illness, and the failings of language, all of which Ang broaches through gorgeously evocative and metaphorical storytelling. As women struggle to come to terms with what society expects of them, Ang reveals the gendered and racial power dynamics implicit in every decision of every day.