A CULTURAL ICON: Cathy Guisewite first launched the “Cathy” comic-strip in 1976, and more than forty years later she (and her cartoon alter-ego) is still beloved by fans. Guisewite has become something of a cultural icon, appearing on The Tonight Show fifteen times, charming both Jay Leno and Johnny Carson. When the strip said farewell in 2010, it was covered from CNN to Gawker to The New York Times to Saturday Night Live.

IMMENSE POPULARITY: The huge readership for the “Cathy” strip is a built-in book audience. Throughout the 80s and 90s the strip appeared in over 1,400 newspapers around the world. Though Guisewite has published nearly 50 comic collections, which have sold over 260,000 copies, this is her first narrative book.

THE REAL CATHY: The tone of Fifty Things That Aren’t My Fault is different from what the limited format of the “Cathy” comic allowed—more honest, soulful, and at times edgy. Guisewite has been largely out of the public eye, and fans will be eager to get to know the woman behind the beloved comic strip.

PERFECT FOR FANS OF NORA EPHRON AND ERMA BOMBECK, with its funny and frank look at middle-age, as well as Guisewite’s slightly edgy and self-deprecating tone.

RELATABLE TIMELY TOPICS: These essays are focused on the experiences, both light and profound, of the “sandwich generation” of women who are caring for both their parents and their children, on topics such as sending kids to college and failing to organize a closet, but also issues such as instilling feminist values in her daughter—and watching her parents age.

RELEVANCY TO WOMEN TODAY: Guisewite remains relevant in the lives of women today—just last January she authored an extremely popular op-ed about Mary Tyler Moore and the Women’s March for The New York Times, and the “Cathy” comic was featured on many signs at the women’s marches.

FEATURED ARTWORK: Though Guisewite purposely wants to distinguish this collection from her Cathy comic collections (published by Workman), she will be including original spot art, interspersed throughout the text.

Cathy Guisewite is the creator of the “Cathy” comic strip, which ran in nearly 1,400 newspapers for thirty-four years. The strip earned Guisewite the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award in 1992, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for the TV special Cathy in 1987, and the high honor of having her work displayed on the fronts of refrigerators across the land. Cathy lives in California with her handsome and charming dog, Leo.

Author Residence: Santa Barbara, CA

“Cathy Guisewite must have discovered early that laughter is the only free emotion—the only one that cannot be compelled—because she gave us the gift of freedom in her Cathy comic strip. Now, in Fifty Things That Aren’t My Fault, she has written a book that will help us free our lives to the very end.”—Gloria Steinem