ABOUT
Kayla E. is an award-winning Texas-born artist of Mexican American descent. She works as creative director at Fantagraphics and is a recipient of a 2023-2024 Princeton Hodder Fellowship. She is the co-founder and former President of Nat. Brut Inc., a non-profit that produces an art and literary magazine, of which she was the Editor-in-Chief for nine years. She earned her B.A. in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University, where she served as the Art Director for the Harvard Lampoon. Precious Rubbish, her graphic novel debut, is a work of trauma recollection told in the style of post-war children’s comics. Kayla lives in North Carolina with her wife and two dogs.
EDUCATION
Harvard University
B.A., Visual and Environmental Studies
Praise for Precious Rubbish by Kayla E.
“Precious Rubbish is a scream as precisely pitched as a middle C from a tuning fork . . . Her work is such an unexpected mixture of control and frankness that it is impossible to ignore.” ― The New York Times
“Kayla E. uses her medium to striking effect: her wry portrait reveals a fresh eye, at once vulnerable and undaunted.” ― The New Yorker
“This four-color atomic bomb of a comic signals the arrival of a formidable talent.” ― ★ Publishers Weekly Starred Review
“Kayla E.’s uniquely unconventional, hauntingly shocking debut graphic memoir is reminiscent of a complicated mosaic that’s missing pieces but has been filled in with unexpected replacements to create a disturbing collage both horrific and beautiful.” ― ★ Booklist Starred Review