Sarah Leavitt

What do you do when your outspoken, passionate, and quick-witted mother starts fading into a forgetful, fearful woman? In this powerful graphic memoir, Sarah Leavitt reveals how Alzheimer’s disease transformed her mother Midge—and her family—forever. In spare black and white drawings and clear, candid prose, Sarah shares her family’s journey through a harrowing range of emotions—shock, denial, hope, anger, frustration—all the while learning to cope with a devastating diagnosis, and managing to find moments of happiness. Tangles confronts the complexity of Alzheimer’s disease, and gradually opens a knot of moments, memories, and dreams to reveal a bond between a mother and a daughter that will never come apart.

A story about Alzheimer's, my mother, and me

Tangles

Acclaimed cartoonist Sarah Leavitt has created a gold rush story like no other: a spine chilling account of one woman’s attempt to escape her past by travelling into the wilds of the Cariboo Agnes, Murderess is a graphic novel inspired by the bloody legend of Agnes McVee, a roadhouse owner, madam and serial killer in the Cariboo region of British Columbia in the mid-nineteenth century. Fascinated by Agnes McVee and her unverified reputation as a murderer (originating in a 1970s guide to buried treasure), Sarah Leavitt has imagined an entirely new story for this mysterious woman: Agnes’s life begins on an isolated island off the coast of Scotland with her terrifying paternal grandmother, Gormul, who is feared by the villagers as a powerful witch. Agnes is desperate to leave the island, but Gormul keeps her trapped, determined to have an heir to her land and her evil powers. With the help of her devoted friend Seamus, Agnes escapes to London, then on to British Columbia, settling in 108 Mile in the Cariboo region. Here, she assumes ownership of a roadhouse serving the Gold Rush Trail. But no matter how far into the wild she ventures, she can’t seem to rid herself of Gormul’s legacy, which haunts both her dreams and her waking life. Leavitt puts a decidedly queer twist on the story, moving from women’s passionate friendships in the gardens of St John’s Wood to female relationships in Cariboo. At the same time, the book grapples with the dangerous pre-conceived notion held by settlers that Canada is a “new world,” free of ghosts and history. Agnes, Murderess presents a tortured, complicated woman struggling to escape her past. It is a spine-chilling tale of ghosts and murder, friendship and betrayal, love and greed, fate and choice.

Agnes, Murderess

Joseph Boyden

Rabindranath Maharaj

Alissa York

Noah Richler

Northwords is a cross-platform project that takes urban Canadian writers Joseph Boyden, Sarah Leavitt, Rabindranth Maharaj, Noah Richler, and Alissa York to some of the world’s most extreme environments, to join the conversation about the north. Introduced by award-winning journalist and radio personality Shelagh Rogers, Northwords is a collection of stories written by acclaimed Canadian authors as they experienced one of Canada’s most awe-inspiring northern national parks Torngat Mountains National Park, the country’s newest national park, and a place steeped in geological and human history. The cross-platform project, which includes a documentary film that follows the authors as they explored the harsh and stunning terrain, had adventures, and created these new works, adds to the continuing story of the North. The stories explore the idea of the North, and what happens when the country’s best writers tackle its most overwhelmingly beautiful places. Taking advantage of opportunities presented by transmedia integration, users can experience the stories in the writers’ own words through Anansi Digital, as well as learn more about their processes and what inspired them through interactive content. Users will have access to film and audio content, and together, these related media will create a larger story web, allowing the audience to truly immerse themselves in the sights, sounds, and stories of the North.

Northwords

Sarah a toujours eu une mauvaise mémoire. Quand on diagnostique la maladie d'Alzheimer de sa mère, elle sait qu'elle doit noter tout ce qui se passe pour se rappeler les moments de folie, la beauté, la tragédie et les fous rires aussi. Elle nous entraîne avec elle dans le voyage de sa famille en Alzheimer... Un témoignage sur une maladie complexe, et un hommage d'une fille à sa mère.

Alzheimer, ma mère et moi

Le Grand désordre

Based on the reading of more than 100 domestic advice manuals written from the late 19th century to the present, this book traces the changing trends, ideals, and fantasies of domestic advice these works offered women and explores the enduring appeal of the genre.

Sarah Leavitt

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