NEWBURYPORT — Popular local author, artist and musician Leah Hayes will visit Jabberwocky Bookshop on Saturday, at 5 p.m. to celebrate her newest adult graphic novel “Identical” with a reading and Q&A.
“Identical” is the story of twin girls born in the not-so-distant future, where fertility treatments have begun to use new AI technology. Their mother, desperate to have a baby, has sought out this new technology to get pregnant. After they are born, she slowly begins to suspect that one twin is human… while the other is not.
The author uses her own experience as an identical twin to explore the realms of sameness and difference, separation and unity. After many years of illustrating books about others, “Identical” marks Hayes’s first time turning the pen inward.
Hayes is an Emmy-award-winning illustrator, animator, and musician. Working on both East and West coasts, she is the author of several books, including “Not Funny Ha-Ha,” which was a New York Times Best-Seller and voted one of Forbes Magazine’s Top Ten Graphic Novels of 2015. She is also the author and illustrator of “I Touched The Sun,” the critically-acclaimed children’s book. Hayes has taught illustration and graphic novel-writing at Parsons School of Design, Endicott College, and MassArt. She is currently on the illustration faculty at Lesley University in Boston.
Hayes has put out several albums under her moniker Scary Mansion and is a producer and songwriter for pop and hip-hop artists. She has written songs for Lil’ Wayne, Azealia Banks, Dillon Francis, Bonnie McKee and many more.
Jabberwocky Bookshop is at the Tannery, 50 Water St. Newburyport. This event is free and open to all. For more information please call 978-465-9359, or visit jabberwockybookshop.com