Anna Sommer and Catherine Ocelot Conundrum double launch

Join Librairie Drawn & Quarterly and Conundrum Press as we celebrate the release of The Unknown by Anna Sommer, and Art Life by Catherine Ocelot. Featuring presentations by Sommer and Ocelot, alongside translators Helge Dascher and Aleshia Jensen.

THE UNKNOWN
A story of deceit, self-deception, and the search for happiness
When Helen finds a newborn abandoned in a changing room in her boutique, she decides to keep the baby nestled in a cardboard box and hidden from her husband.
After Vicky is talked into sex work by her boarding school roommate, Wanda, all of Vicky’s secrets–including her affair with their history teacher and her pregnancy–are quickly uncovered.
As the two narratives converge, coincidences and secrets are revealed. Incisive, wicked and breezily unconcerned by taboos, Anna Sommer lets readers put together the pieces of her morally ambiguous fable.
The Unknown is the English language translation of Sommer’s L’Inconnu, a French language edition published by Les Cahiers Dessinés. In 2018, L’Inconnu was nominated for a prize at the prestigious Angoulême International Comics Festival.

ART LIFE
Winner of the Prix Bédélys (Best comic in Quebec)
Shortlisted for the Quebec booksellers award 2018 in the graphic novel category (Prix des libraires)
Catherine Ocelot wonders about her place as an artist, digging into the layers of what it means to live this Art Life. In her search for answers, she talks with seven artists from different disciplines who express their doubts, their struggles, their ambitions and their sometimes-wise and sometimes-funny observations. The author stages these encounters with finesse and wit, and echoes them with scenes from her own life. Art Life is a tragicomic tale tinged with fantasy that explores the impact of others on oneself, led by an artist who slowly comes to understand herself.