Editing Alison Bechdel

{{Short description|American cartoonist (born 1960)}}
{{redirect|Bechdel|the test|Bechdel test||Bechdel (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Alison Bechdel
| image            = Alison Bechdel at the Boston Book Festival.jpg
| caption          = Bechdel at the [[Boston Book Festival]] in 2011
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1960|9|10}}
| birth_place      = [[Beech Creek, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| education        = [[Bard College at Simon's Rock|Simon's Rock College]] ([[Associate of Arts|AA]])<br />[[Oberlin College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation       = {{hlist|Cartoonist|author}}
| genre            = [[Autobiography]], [[social commentary]]
| movement         = Underground
| notableworks     = ''[[Dykes to Watch Out For]]'',<br />''[[Fun Home]]'',<br />''[[Are You My Mother? (memoir)|Are You My Mother?]]''
| website          = {{URL|dykestowatchoutfor.com}}
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Amy Rubin|February 2004|August 2004|reason=[[San Francisco 2004 same-sex weddings|voided]]}}
* {{marriage|Holly Rae Taylor|July 2015}}
}}
}}
'''Alison Bechdel''' ({{IPAc-en|'|b|ɛ|k|d|əl|audio=en-us-Bechdel.ogg}} {{respell|BEK|dəl}};<ref>{{cite web|title=Alison Bechdel Audio Name Pronunciation|url=http://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=10597|website=TeachingBooks.net|access-date=August 11, 2014}} ([https://www.teachingbooks.net/content/pronounce/Allison_Bechdel.mp3 mp3])</ref> born September 10, 1960) is an American [[cartoonist]]. Originally known for the long-running [[comic strip]] ''[[Dykes to Watch Out For]]'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her [[Graphic novel|graphic]] [[memoir]] ''[[Fun Home]]''. ''Fun Home'' was subsequently adapted as a [[Fun Home (musical)|musical]] that won a [[Tony Award]] for Best Musical in 2015.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/theater/theaterspecial/curious-incident-captures-the-tony-for-best-play.html|title=Tony Awards: 'Fun Home' Wins Best Musical and 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' Best Play|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 8, 2015|author1=Michael Paulson|author2=Patrick Healy|access-date=June 8, 2015}}</ref> In 2012, she released her second graphic memoir ''[[Are You My Mother? (memoir)|Are You My Mother?]]'' She was a 2014 recipient of the [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur "Genius" Award]].<ref name="MacArthur">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/arts/macarthur-awards-go-to-21-diverse-fellows.html|title=MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 17, 2014|last1=Lee|first1=Felicia R.}}</ref> She is also known for originating what would later be called the [[Bechdel test]].

== Early life ==
Bechdel was born in [[Lock Haven, Pennsylvania]]. She is the daughter of Helen Augusta ([[née]] Fontana)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wetzlerfuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/1585010/Bechdel-Helen/obituary.php|title=Helen Bechdel Obituary – Bellefonte, Pennsylvania|website=Wetzler Funeral Home, Inc.|date=May 14, 2013|access-date=January 13, 2017|archive-date=December 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220103845/http://www.wetzlerfuneralhome.com//book-of-memories/1585010/Bechdel-Helen/obituary.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Bruce Allen Bechdel. Her family was [[Roman Catholic]]. Her father was an army veteran who was stationed in [[West Germany]]. He was also a high school English teacher, working full-time and operating a funeral home part-time. Her mother was an actress and teacher. Both of her parents contributed to her career as a cartoonist.<ref name=Bio97>{{cite book|title=Gay & Lesbian Biography – "Alison Bechdel"|editor1-first=Michael J.|editor1-last=Tyrkus|editor2-first=Michael|editor2-last=Bronski|location=Detroit|publisher=St. James Press|year=1997|isbn=978-1-55862-237-1}} ''Literature Resource Center''. Web. March 8, 2016.</ref> She has two brothers: Bruce "Christian" Bechdel II and John Bechdel, a keyboard player who has worked with many bands including [[Fear Factory]], [[Ministry (band)|Ministry]], [[Prong (band)|Prong]] and [[Killing Joke]]. Bechdel left high school a year early and earned her [[associates degree#united states|A.A.]] in 1979 from [[Bard College at Simon's Rock]]. She graduated with a degree in studio arts and art history in 1981 from [[Oberlin College]].<ref name=Bio97 /> After her father died in 1980, her mother sold the family house in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania, the small town where Bechdel grew up, and moved to Bellefonte, a less provincial small town near State College with her long-time partner Robert Fenichel.<ref name=NY>{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/23/drawn-from-life|title=Drawn from Life|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=April 16, 2012|author=Judith Thurman|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref>

== Career ==
[[File:Alison Bechdel in London.jpg|thumb|right|Bechdel at a London signing for ''[[Fun Home]]'' in 2006]]
Bechdel moved to [[Manhattan]] during the summer of 1981 and applied to several [[art school]]s, but was rejected and worked in many office jobs in the [[publishing]] industry.<ref name=SSC-MS-00633>{{cite web|url=https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/992|title=Collection: Alison Bechdel papers|website= Smith College Finding Aids|access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref>

She began ''[[Dykes to Watch Out For]]'' as a single drawing labeled "Marianne, dissatisfied with the morning brew: Dykes to Watch Out For, plate no. 27".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Indelible Alison Bechdel: Confessions, Comix, and Miscellaneous Dykes to Watch Out For|publisher=[[Firebrand Books]]|year=1998|isbn=978-1-56341-097-0}}</ref> An acquaintance recommended she send her work to ''[[WomaNews]]'', a feminist newspaper, which published her first work in its June 1983 issue.<ref name=SSC-MS-00633 /> Bechdel gradually moved from her early single-panel drawings to multi-paneled strips.<ref name=Queries>{{cite web|url=http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/frivolous-aimless-queries|title=Frivolous, Aimless Queries|publisher=[[Dykes to Watch Out For]]|last=Bechdel|first=Alison|access-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref> ''Dykes to Watch Out For'' began this process, developing into a series of posters and postcards, allowing for people to have a look into the urban lesbian community.<ref name=Bio97 /> After a year, other outlets began running the strip.

In the first years, ''Dykes to Watch Out For'' consisted of unconnected strips without a regular cast or serialized storyline. However, its structure eventually evolved into a focus on following a set group of [[lesbian]] characters. In 1986, Firebrand Books published a collection of the strips to date.<ref name=Queries /> In 1987, Bechdel introduced her regular characters, Mo and her friends, while living in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]]. ''Dykes to Watch Out For'' is the origin of the "[[Bechdel test]]", intended as a joke,<ref>{{cite news| last=Anderson | first=Hephzibah | title=Alison Bechdel: 'The Bechdel test was a joke... I didn't intend for it to become a real gauge' |newspaper=The Guardian | date=2 July 2023 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/02/alison-bechdel-test-dykes-to-watch-out-for-cartoonist-interview}}</ref> which has become a frequently used metric in cultural discussion of film. In 1988, she began a short-lived page-length strip about the staff of a queer newspaper, titled "Servants to the Cause", for ''[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]''. Bechdel has also written and drawn [[autobiography|autobiographical]] strips and has done illustrations for magazines and websites. The success of ''Dykes to Watch Out For'' allowed Bechdel to quit her day job in 1990 to work on the strip full-time.<ref name=SSC-MS-00633 />

In November 2006, Bechdel was invited to sit on the Usage Panel of the [[American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|''American Heritage Dictionary'']].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dictionary|title=Dictionary|publisher=Dykes to Watch Out For|date=November 30, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Robertson |first=Mike |date=2013-10-22 |title=College to Host Award-Winning Cartoonist and Author Alison Bechdel |url=https://today.cofc.edu/2013/10/22/college-to-host-award-winning-cartoonist-and-author-alison-bechdel/ |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=The College Today |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2012, Bechdel was a Mellon Residential Fellow for Arts and Practice at the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center at the [[University of Chicago]] and co-taught "Lines of Transmission: Comics & Autobiography" with Professor [[Hillary Chute]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://graycenter.uchicago.edu/people/alison-bechdel|title=Alison Bechdel|website=Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry – The University of Chicago|access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref> On April 6, 2017, Bechdel was appointed as Vermont's third Cartoonist Laureate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/entertainment/2017/03/28/alison-bechdel-vermont-cartoonist-laureate/99737676/|title=Alison Bechdel named Vermont Cartoonist Laureate|newspaper=Burlington Free Press|date=March 28, 2016|last=Hallenbeck|first=Brent|access-date=April 4, 2018}}</ref>

In 2014, she posted a comic strip based on her ''Fun Home! The Musical!''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/fun-home-the-musical/Content?oid=2393463|title=Fun Home! The Musical!|newspaper=[[Seven Days (newspaper)|Seven Days]]|last=Bechdel|first=Alison|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref> After [[Donald Trump]]'s election as U.S. president she posted three new episodes of ''Dykes to Watch Out For'': "Pièce de Résistance,"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/dykes-to-watch-out-for-piece-de-resistance/Content?oid=3841356|title=Dykes to Watch Out For: Pièce de Résistance|newspaper=Seven Days|date=November 23, 2016|last=Bechdel|first=Alison|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref> "Postcards From the Edge,"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/new-dykes-to-watch-out-for-tackles-the-ides-of-trump/Content?oid=4598939|title=New 'Dykes to Watch Out For' Tackles the Ides of Trump|newspaper=Seven Days|date=March 14, 2017|last=Bechdel|first=Alison|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref> and "Things Fall Apart."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/dykes-ponders-how-to-unify-a-divided-country/Content?oid=6581946|title='Dykes to Watch Out For' Ponders How to Unify a Divided Country|newspaper=Seven Days|date=July 5, 2017|last=Bechdel|first=Alison|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref>

Bechdel resides in [[Bolton, Vermont]], and works with the Vermont-based alternative weekly ''[[Seven Days (newspaper)|Seven Days]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alison Bechdel |url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/Author |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=Seven Days |language=en}}</ref>

== Graphic novels ==

=== ''Fun Home'' ===
{{Main|Fun Home}}

In 2006, Bechdel published ''[[Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic]]'', an autobiographical "tragicomic" chronicling her childhood and the years before and after her father's suicide. It follows the past and present phases of her relationship with her parents, principally her father, and depicts the hardships individuals face when coming out.<ref>Killacky, John R. "Alison Bechdel: graphic alchemist." ''The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide'' 19.5 (2012): 44+. ''Literature Resource Center''. Web. March 8, 2016.</ref> ''Fun Home'' has received more widespread mainstream attention than Bechdel's earlier work, with reviews in ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'' and several features in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/books/review/18wilsey.html?pagewanted=all|title=The Things They Buried|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 18, 2006|last=Wilsey|first=Sean}}</ref> ''Fun Home'' spent two weeks on ''[[The New York Times Bestseller List]]'' for Hardcover Nonfiction.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/books/bestseller/0709besthardnonfiction.html?ex=1155096000&en=aaca93d5bcae9024&ei=5070|title=July 9, 2006 Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 9, 2006|access-date=December 18, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/books/bestseller/0716besthardnonfiction.html?ex=1155096000&en=516fbdccced8ce0c&ei=5070|title=July 16, 2006 Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 16, 2006|access-date=December 18, 2006}}</ref>

''Fun Home'' was hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by numerous sources, including ''The New York Times'',<ref>{{cite news|title=100 Notable Books of the Year|url=https://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/review/20061203notable-books.html?ref=books|series=Sunday Book Review|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 3, 2006|access-date=December 12, 2006}}</ref> [[amazon.com]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=br_lf_m_1000024441_pglink_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000024441&plgroup=1&plpage=2|title=Best Books of 2006: Editors' Top 50|website=Amazon|access-date=June 19, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/1000020751/|title=Best of 2006 Top 10 Editors' Picks: Memoirs|website=Amazon|access-date=June 19, 2014}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' of London,<ref>{{cite news|first=Tom|last=Gatti|title=The 10 best books of 2006: number 10—Fun Home|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-10-best-books-of-2006-v5qqztzf2zs|work=[[The Times]]|date=December 16, 2006|access-date=December 18, 2006|location=London}}</ref> ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'',<ref>{{cite news|title=The First Annual PW Comics Week Critic's Poll|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6401289.html?nid=2789|work=Publishers Weekly Online|publisher=[[Publishers Weekly]]|date=December 19, 2006|access-date=December 19, 2006|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070123003531/http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6401289.html?nid=2789|archive-date= January 23, 2007|url-status= dead}}</ref> [[salon.com]],<ref>{{cite news|author1=Laura Miller|author2=Hillary Frey|title=Best debuts of 2006|url=http://www.salon.com/books/awards/2006/12/12/debut/|work=[[salon.com]]|date=December 12, 2006|access-date=December 12, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512125029/http://www.salon.com/books/awards/2006/12/12/debut/|archive-date=May 12, 2008}}</ref> ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine,<ref name="Bonanos">{{cite news|author1=Christopher Bonanos|author2=Logan Hill|author3=Jim Holt|title=The Year in Books|url=https://nymag.com/arts/cultureawards/2006/25308/|work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=December 18, 2006|access-date=December 12, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213023121/http://nymag.com/arts/cultureawards/2006/25308/|archive-date=December 13, 2006|url-status= live|display-authors=etal}}</ref> and ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''.<ref name="Bonanos" />

''Time'' magazine named Alison Bechdel's ''Fun Home'' number one of its "10 Best Books of the Year." [[Lev Grossman]] and Richard LeCayo described ''Fun Home'' as "the unlikeliest literary success of 2006," and called it "a stunning memoir about a girl growing up in a small town with her cryptic, perfectionist dad and slowly realizing that a) she is gay and b) he is too… Bechdel's breathtakingly smart commentary duets with eloquent line drawings. Forget genre and sexual orientation: this is a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other."<ref>{{cite news|first=Lev|last=Grossman|author-link=Lev Grossman|author2=Richard Lacayo|title=10 Best Books|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570801,00.html|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=December 17, 2006|access-date=December 18, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109043704/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1570801%2C00.html|archive-date=January 9, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

''Fun Home'' was a finalist for the 2006 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] in the memoir/autobiography category.<ref>{{cite news|first=Josh|last=Getlin|title=Book Critics Circle nominees declared|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-21-na-books21-story.html|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=January 21, 2007|access-date=June 19, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=finalists|title=NBCC Awards Finalists|access-date=January 22, 2007|work=[[National Book Critics Circle]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002082415/http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=finalists|archive-date=October 2, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> It also won the 2007 [[Eisner Award]] for Best Reality-Based Work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07win.shtml|title=The 2007 Eisner Awards: Winners List|access-date=July 31, 2007|work=[[San Diego Comic-Con]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626060301/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07win.shtml|archive-date=June 26, 2010}}</ref> ''Fun Home'' was also nominated for the Best Graphic Album award, and Bechdel was nominated for Best Writer/Artist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml#nomlist|title=The 2007 Eisner Awards: 2007 Master Nominations List|access-date=July 31, 2007|work=San Diego Comic-Con|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808201201/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml|archive-date=August 8, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2014, the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]-led [[South Carolina House of Representatives]] Ways and Means Committee considered cutting the [[College of Charleston]]'s funding by $52,000 for selecting ''Fun Home''. The addition of ''Fun Home'' to the summer reading list caused significant backlash from some conservative students who found the depiction of sexuality to be "immoral," and "pornographic" for "graphically showing lesbian acts."<ref name="punish">{{cite news|last=Seanna|first=Adcox|date=February 19, 2014|title=SC lawmakers vote to punish colleges' book choices|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/19/sc-legislators-want-to-punish-2-colleges-in-budget/|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=[[Washington Times]]|access-date=February 10, 2025}}</ref><ref name="promotion">{{cite news|url=http://blog.postandcourier.com/palmetto-politics/2014/02/20/palmetto-sunrise-college-charleston-dollars-cut-promotion-lesbians/|title=Palmetto Sunrise: College of Charleston dollars cut for 'promotion of lesbians'|newspaper=[[The Post and Courier]]|date=February 20, 2014|last=Borden|first=Jeremy|location=Charleston, SC|access-date=February 21, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140221064315/http://blog.postandcourier.com/palmetto-politics/2014/02/20/palmetto-sunrise-college-charleston-dollars-cut-promotion-lesbians/|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 21, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/09/01/bcst-books-thread-fun-home-controversy|title=College students object to reading bestselling, 'pornographic' memoir|website=Minnesota Public Radio News|date=September 1, 2015|author=Tracy Mumford|access-date=January 13, 2017}}</ref>

''[[Fun Home (musical)|Fun Home]]'' premiered as a musical Off-Broadway at [[The Public Theater]] on September 30, 2013, and officially opened on October 22, 2013. The score was written by [[Jeanine Tesori]] and the book and lyrics were written by [[Lisa Kron]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/the-verdict-critics-review-jeanine-tesori-lisa-kron-musical-fun-home-at-the-210911|title=The Verdict: Critics Review Jeanine Tesori-Lisa Kron Musical Fun Home at the Public Theater|magazine=Playbill|date=October 23, 2013|access-date=January 13, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Ben Btantley|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/theater/reviews/fun-home-a-new-musical-at-the-public-theater.html|title='Fun Home,' a New Musical at the Public Theater|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 12, 2014|access-date=January 13, 2017}}</ref> Kron and Tesori made history as the first all-woman team to win a Tony Award for best score.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Purcell|first=Carey|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/fun-home-duo-make-history-as-first-all-female-writing-team-to-win-the-tony-350678|title=Fun Home Duo Make History as First All-Female Writing Team to Win the Tony|magazine=Playbill|date=June 7, 2015|access-date=January 13, 2017}}</ref> Originally scheduled to run through November 3, 2013, the run was extended multiple times and the musical closed on January 12, 2014. The Public Theater production was directed by Sam Gold. Sets and costumes were by David Zinn, lighting by Ben Stanton, sound by Kai Harada, projections by Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg and choreography by Danny Mefford.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=497807|title=Fun Home &#124; IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information|date=October 12, 2014|access-date=November 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012002947/http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=497807|archive-date=October 12, 2014}}</ref> The musical played at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre, with previews from March 27, 2015, and an official opening on April 19, 2015, running to September 10, 2016. Sam Gold, who directed the Public Theater production, also directed the show on Broadway, leading the Off-Broadway production team. The Off-Broadway cast reprised their roles on Broadway, except for the actors playing John, Christian, and Medium Alison. The Broadway musical won five [[Tony Awards]], including Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role in a Musical, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pedersen|first1=Erik|title=Tony Award Winners 2015 – Full List: 'Fun Home,' 'Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time' Lead The Way|url=https://deadline.com/2015/06/tony-award-winners-2015-tonys-winner-list-1201438989/|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=June 8, 2015|access-date=April 15, 2017}}</ref>

On January 3, 2020, it was announced that [[Jake Gyllenhaal]] and his [[Nine Stories Productions]] banner secured the rights to adapt the musical version of ''Fun Home'' into a film. Sam Gold, who directed the Broadway production, is set to helm the film, in which Gyllenhaal will star as Bruce Bechdel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/198003/jake-gyllenhaal-to-produce-star-in-movie-musical-adaptation-of-fun-home/|title=Jake Gyllenhaal to Produce & Star in Movie Musical Adaptation of Fun Home|website=Broadway.com}}</ref>

=== ''Are You My Mother?'' ===
{{Main|Are You My Mother? (memoir)}}

Bechdel suspended work on ''[[Dykes to Watch Out For]]'' in 2008 so that she could work on her second graphic memoir, ''[[Are You My Mother? (memoir)|Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama]]'', which was released in May 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://comicsbeat.com/bechdels-are-you-my-mother-gets-100k-first-printing/|title=Bechdel's ARE YOU MY MOTHER gets 100K first printing|date=January 4, 2012|access-date=January 14, 2012|work=The Beat: The News Blog of Comics Culture}}</ref> It focuses on her relationship with her mother. Bechdel described its themes as "the self, subjectivity, desire, the nature of reality, that sort of thing,"<ref>{{cite web|last=Garner|first=Dwight|date=July 20, 2007|title=Stray Questions for: Alison Bechdel|url=https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/20/stray-questions-for-alison-bechdel/|department=ArtsBeat (blog)|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 14, 2007}}</ref> which is a paraphrase of a quote from Virginia Woolf's ''[[To the Lighthouse]]''.

The story's dramatic action is multi-layered and divides into a number of narrative strands:
*Bechdel's phone-conversations with her mother in the present.
*Bechdel's memories of interactions with her mother throughout her life, beginning in childhood.
*Bechdel's therapy sessions, whose primary content is composed of analysis of her relationship with her mother.
*Bechdel's richly imagined, and diligently researched, historical portrayals of psychoanalyst [[Donald Winnicott]], and author [[Virginia Woolf]], spliced together with Bechdel's own therapeutic journey with text from the psychoanalytic writings of [[Alice Miller (psychologist)|Alice Miller]], along with the story of Bechdel's own reading-through and relating to the works of [[Sigmund Freud]].

An excerpt of the book, entitled "Mirror", was included in the ''[[The Best American Comics|Best American Comics 2013]]'', edited by [[Jeff Smith (cartoonist)|Jeff Smith]]. This episode riffs heavily on psychoanalytic themes quoted explicitly from the work of psychoanalysts Alice Miller and Donald Winnicott.

=== ''The Secret to Superhuman Strength'' ===
Bechdel published another memoir, ''[[The Secret to Superhuman Strength]]'', in 2021. The book chronicles Bechdel's fascination with fitness, jumping from sport to sport and discovering that she gets in her own way.<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.bibliopolis.com |title=The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel on Underground Books |url=https://www.undergroundbooks.net/pages/books/10167/alison-bechdel/the-secret-to-superhuman-strength |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=Underground Books |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== ''Spent: A Comic Novel'' ===
{{Main|Spent}}

Bechdel's next graphic novel, ''[[Spent: A Comic Novel]]'', is set for release in May 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.goodreads.com |title=Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel on Goodreads |url=https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/217896244-spent |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=Goodreads |language=en-US}}</ref> The novel features a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel running a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont.

== Personal life ==
Bechdel [[coming out|came out]] as a lesbian at age 19.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://genderacrossborders.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/a-conversation-with-alison-bechdel/|title=A Conversation with Alison Bechdel|last=Samer|first=Roxane|date=February 23, 2010|website=Genderacrossborders.wordpress.com|access-date=November 22, 2017}}</ref> Her sexuality and gender non-conformity are a large part of the core message of her work, and she has said that "the secret subversive goal of my work is to show that women, not just lesbians, are regular human beings".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Joost|first1=Wesley|title=Sing Lesbian Cat, Fly Lesbian Seagull: An Interview With Alison Bechdel|url=http://www.theguardsman.com/051500/page10.pdf|page=10|work=[[City College of San Francisco|The Guardsman]]|date=May 15, 2000|access-date=September 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117063225/http://theguardsman.com/051500/page10.pdf|archive-date=November 17, 2015}} (pg. 11 missing)</ref> In February 2004, Bechdel married Amy Rubin, her girlfriend since 1992, in a civil ceremony in [[San Francisco]]. However, all [[same-sex marriage]] licenses [[San Francisco 2004 same-sex weddings|given by the city at that time]] were subsequently voided by the [[Supreme Court of California|California Supreme Court]]. Bechdel and Rubin separated in 2006.<ref>{{cite news|first=Oliver|last=Burkeman|title=A life stripped bare|url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,1923213,00.html|format=free registration required|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=October 16, 2006|access-date=January 22, 2007}}</ref> She subsequently lived with her partner Holly Rae Taylor, a painter,<ref name=NY /> for seven and a half years before their marriage in July 2015.<ref>{{cite news|author=Tim Teeman|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/29/lesbian-desire-a-father-s-suicide-and-12-tony-noms-alison-bechdel-on-fun-home.html|title=Lesbian Desire, a Father's Suicide and 12 Tony Noms: Alison Bechdel on 'Fun Home'|magazine=Thedailybeast.com|date=April 29, 2015}}</ref> She lives in [[Bolton, Vermont]], in a house she bought in 1996, adding her own studio to work in.<ref name=NY /><ref name=stuck>{{cite AV media |people=Sollberger, Eva (director) |date=May 6, 2021 |title=Stuck in Vermont: Alison Bechdel Shares 'The Secret to Superhuman Strength' |url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/stuck-in-vermont-alison-bechdel-shares-the-secret-to-superhuman-strength/Content?oid=32914655&media=AMP+HTML |access-date=May 6, 2021 |time=10:31 |location= |publisher=[[Seven Days (newspaper)|Seven Days]]}}</ref> Bechdel goes by she/her pronouns.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Hephzibah |date=2023-07-02 |title=Alison Bechdel: 'The Bechdel test was a joke... I didn't intend for it to become a real gauge' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/02/alison-bechdel-test-dykes-to-watch-out-for-cartoonist-interview |access-date=2024-03-17 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref>

== Selected works ==
* ''The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0618968800}})
* [[Fun Home|''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'']] (Houghton Mifflin, 2006, {{ISBN|0-618-47794-2}})
* [[Are You My Mother? (memoir)|''Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama'']] (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, {{ISBN|0-618-98250-7}})
* ''[[The Secret to Superhuman Strength]]'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, {{ISBN|978-0224101905}})
* ''Spent'' (HarperCollins, 2025, {{ISBN|978-0063278929}})

== Awards ==
* 2006 [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] Magazine listed ''Fun Home'' as one of its 10 Best Books of the Year
* 2007 [[Eisner Award]] for Best Reality-Based Work<ref name=Kennedy>{{cite book|title=Drawn to purpose : American women illustrators and cartoonists|last=Kennedy|first=Martha H.|publisher=Library of Congress|others=Hayden, Carla Diane, 1952-|year=2018|isbn=978-1-4968-1592-7|location=Jackson, Mississippi|pages=182–183|oclc=993601764}}</ref>
* 2007 [[Stonewall Book Award]]s – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bookmediaawards&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=93109|title=ALA {{!}} Stonewall Book Awards|website=www.ala.org|access-date=March 8, 2016}}</ref>
* 2010 [[List of Lulu Award winners#Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame|Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame]] (presented by [[Friends of Lulu]])<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/lulu.php | title =  Lulu Award | publisher = Comic Book Awards Almanac | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130126234514/http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/lulu.php | archivedate = January 26, 2013 | url-status = live}}</ref>
* 2012 [[Guggenheim Fellowship]]<ref name=Kennedy />
* 2012 [[Inkpot Award]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot|title=Inkpot Award|date=December 6, 2012|website=Comic-Con International: San Diego}}</ref>
* 2012 The [[Bill Whitehead Award]] for Lifetime Achievement from [[Publishing Triangle]]
* 2013 The International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education Distinguished Educator Award
* 2014 [[MacArthur Fellows Program#2014|MacArthur Fellowship]]<ref name="MacArthur" />
* 2014 [[Lambda Literary Foundation|Lambda]] Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Literature<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/06/03/winners-of-the-26th-annual-lambda-literary-awards-announced/|title=Winners of the 26th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced|website=Lambda Literary|date=June 3, 2014|language=en-US|access-date=March 8, 2016}}</ref>
* 2015 The [[Austen Riggs Center#Erikson Institute|Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austenriggs.org/erikson-institute-prize-excellence-mental-health-media|title=Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media|website=Austen Riggs Center|access-date=April 4, 2018|archive-date=July 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720110231/https://www.austenriggs.org/erikson-institute-prize-excellence-mental-health-media|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2019 [[Harvey Awards]] Hall of Fame inductee. The award was presented to Bechdel by [[Chip Kidd]] during the Harvey Awards at [[New York Comic Con]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/arts/harvey-awards-comic-books.html|title=Harvey Awards Hall of Fame to Induct New Members|first=George Gene|last=Gustines|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 25, 2019|access-date=November 27, 2019}}</ref>
* 2022 [[PEN Oakland awards|PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Award]] for ''The Secret to Superhuman Strength''.

For her outstanding contributions to the comic art form, in 2016 [[ComicsAlliance]] listed Bechdel as one of twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://comicsalliance.com/women-lifetime-achievement-awards/|title=12 Women in Comics Who Deserve Lifetime Achievement Recognition|website=Comicsalliance.com|access-date=January 13, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801110216/http://comicsalliance.com/women-lifetime-achievement-awards/|archive-date=August 1, 2016}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portalbar|United States|Biography|Novels}}
*[[Female comics creators]]
*[[Comics]]
*[[Bechdel test]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last1=Chute|first1=Hillary L.|author-link=Hillary Chute|title=Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics|year=2010|edition=1st|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn= 978-0-231-15062-0|oclc=496610090}}
* {{cite magazine|last1=Dube|first1=Ilene|title=Alison Bechdel's Mission to Make Lesbian Culture Visible Through Comics|url=https://hyperallergic.com/461192/self-confessed-the-inappropriately-intimate-comics-of-alison-bechdel/|magazine=[[Hyperallergic]]|date=September 24, 2018}}

== External links ==
{{sister project links|d=Q435032|c=Category:Alison Bechdel|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|s=no|species=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no}}
* {{Official website}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180220033425/http://www.toonsmag.com/2018/02/alison-bechdel.html Alison Bechdel] from [[Toons Mag]]
* [https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/992 Alison Bechdel papers] at the [[Sophia Smith Collection]], Smith College Special Collections
* [https://www.pbs.org/video/alison-bechdel-n2fifj/ Interview on Vermont PBS ''Profile'']

{{Feminist art movement in the United States}}
{{Inkpot Award 2010s}}
{{Authority control}}

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