| Jen Sorensen | |
|---|---|
 Sorensen in 2015 | |
| Born | (1974-09-28)September 28, 1974 (age 50) Lancaster,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Notable works | weekly strip under her own name |
| Awards | 2017 Pulitzer Finalist 2014 Herblock Prize 2013 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award |
| http://jensorensen.com/ | |
Jen Sorensen (born September 28, 1974, inLancaster, Pennsylvania) is an Americancartoonist and illustrator who creates a weeklycomic strip that often focuses on current events from aliberal perspective. Her work has appeared on the websitesDaily Kos,Splinter,The Nib,Politico,AlterNet, andTruthout; and has appeared inMs. Magazine,The Progressive, andThe Nation. It also appears in over 20alternative newsweeklies throughout America.[1] In 2014 she became the first woman to win theHerblock Prize,[2] and in 2017 she was named a Pulitzer Finalist in Editorial Cartooning.[3]
Raised inLancaster, Pennsylvania, Sorensen enrolled in theUniversity of Virginia, where she drew a daily comic strip,Li'l Gus, for itsstudent newspaper,University Journal, from 1994 to 1995, as well as contributing to the satirical magazineThe Yellow Journal.
Sorensen soon became published in various comic anthologies, includingAction Girl and theBig Book of the 70's. She published her own book,Slowpoke Comix #1, in 1998. In 1999, one year after the book was published,Slowpoke became a weekly comic strip. As of 2012 the strip goes simply by her own name, though a few alternative weekly papers continue to use theSlowpoke name.
Sorensen has published three volumes of cartoons:Slowpoke: Café Pompous from 2001,Slowpoke: America Gone Bonkers from 2004 and her latest book,Slowpoke: One Nation Oh My God! published in 2008. Besides her weekly political cartoon, she has produced illustrations for such periodicals asNickelodeon Magazine,The American Prospect,The Dallas Observer,Women's Review of Books, andMAD Magazine.
She has written and illustrated a number of long-form comics, most notablya piece on health care reform commissioned by Kaiser Health News, anda synopsis of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for NPR.
Sorensen has been a member of the artist collectives "Cartoonists with Attitude" and "Serializer."[4][5]
She served as comics editor forSplinter News (formerlyFusion)[6] from 2014 to 2018.
Sorensen is also a member of the National Advisory Council of theBilly Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum atOhio State University.[7]
She has been interviewed by Yahoo/ABC News (video),The Washington Post,[8] as well as theUniversity of Virginia Magazine;[9] the latter web article has a video of Sorensen working.
In 2012, Sorensen was a Herblock Finalist and was later awarded the prize in 2014, making her the first woman to be awarded the prize. Sorensen was awarded the prize based on her portfolio containing work from her local weekly newspaperThe Austin Chronicle, her regular publications inThe Nation, Ms. Magazine, Politico, MAD Magazine, as well as her political cartoon,Slowpoke. The Herblock Foundation judges felt that, "Jen Sorensen’s strong portfolio addresses issues that were important to Herblock, such as gun control, racism, income inequality, healthcare, and sexism. Her style allows her to incorporate information which backs up the arguments she presents. Her art is engaging and her humor is sharp and on target.”[11]
Sorensen was named a 2017 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Editorial Cartooning for a variety of her work featured in several U.S. publications. Her nominated work includes several cartoons on the current political climate, such asThe Trump Supporting Union Member, Poverty Injection, Radical Cleric vs. Trump, and more. According to the Pulitzer Prize board, Sorensen's work is powerful and "often challenging the viewer to look beyond the obvious".[7]
Sorensen's comics have been published in several books, often published byAlternative Comics. Sorensen's books are generally compilations of her weekly comic strip, although the first book contained entirely new material. TheSlowpoke books contain cartoon strips concerning U.S. politics and social justice issues. These comics comment on the Trump administration, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, healthcare, climate change, and more topics related to the current U.S. political climate.[12]
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| National | |
