A 2014 National Book Award Finalist for Non-Fiction, Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? won the prestigious National Book Critics’ Circle Award for Autobiography and the Kirkus Prize for Non-Fiction. The memoir and its author were recognized in 2015 with a Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities.

“I didn’t want to forget how [my parents] talked, and I didn’t want to forget how they were,” said Chast. “Some of the stories that emerged were hilarious, but also heartbreaking, and they became a record of my experience with them. To know that others felt the book meant something to them—I’m very happy about that.”

Roz Chast has loved drawing cartoons since she was a child growing up in Brooklyn. She attended Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in painting because it seemed more artistic than illustration. However, soon after graduating, she reverted to type and began drawing cartoons once again. In addition to The New Yorker, Chast’s cartoons have been published in Scientific American, Harvard Business Review, Redbook, and Mother Jones. She also illustrated The Alphabet from A to Y, with Bonus Letter, Z, the best-selling children’s book by Steve Martin.