Recently, I was reunited with two editorial cartoonist friends in Switzerland. As we do, we talked politics. Because we feel the current political climate so volitile and scary, and so in need of editorial cartoons, we decided to do an in-conversation zoom together.
The two I met with in Europe were Ann Telnaes and Patrick Chappatte. The third cartoonist who joined us on the zoom today was Signe Wilkinson, who is based in Philadelphia. Since Patrick was in Philly this week, we decided to have the conversation with all four of us.
Signe was the regular cartoonist for the The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. She still publishes cartoons in Sunday editions of the Inquirer. Signe was the first woman editorial cartoonist to win the Pulitzer Prize. Ann was a regular Washington Post editorial cartoonist until earlier this year, when she quit in protest over the editorial direction of the paper. Ann is the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes. Patrick was a cartoonist for the NY Times until the paper decided to end publication of all editorial cartoons. Based in Geneva, he works regularly for many different European publications. Here are their websites for more detailed bios:
Ann and Patrick and I met in 2005 when we were invited to speak at the United Nations about the power of cartoons free speech. It was that year that UN General Secretary Kofi Annan and Le Monde cartoonists Jean Plantu founded Cartooning for Peace; we are still active with the organization.
One thing we discussed, other than American politics and the state of global media, is the dire need for editorial cartoons. It appears that Europe still respects the art form, often putting them on the front pages of major newspapers. This is not the case in the US. At the end of our conversation, Signe wondered aloud what we might be able to do to change that, bring awareness to what we do and why its important. Stay tuned, we have thoughts.
Please follow my colleagues on social media, and Ann is on Substack.
Ann and I will do a live broadcast next week, I will let you know when. It may become a regular thing.
Thanks for being here, as always. I am grateful for your support. See you tomorrow!
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