The Long-Awaited Tessa Hulls Interview

Just in time for my next event at Bart’s Books, I’ve finally finished cutting together the audio of my previous conversation there with creative powerhouse Tessa Hulls! This talk was recorded on her whirlwind book tour for Feeding Ghosts, a stunning matrilineal graphic memoir that rocked me to my core and has remained on my mind all year.

Tune in to hear us talk about sustaining ourselves during interminable creative projects, insights from Tessa’s seven-month isolated wilderness residency, and some Patented Bellwood Questions about money in publishing under a springtime sunset.

A bright collection of pink and green folding chairs set up in the courtyard of an open air bookstore.

Tessa also read us an excerpt from the book, which I’ve included in the audio because the words absolutely hold up on their own (although obviously the ideal way to experience the book is to get your hands on a copy).

A sample page from the graphic novel Feeding Ghosts.

Longtime readers might remember this chat we recorded back in 2018. Many themes in this more recent conversation are the same, but the intervening years have changed us both in some pretty significant ways. I hope we get to cross paths again and answer all these questions anew another six years down the line.

I have so much admiration for Tessa as a fellow uncategorizeable creative force. She continues to remind me what it can look like to blend all the disparate passions of our lives into something rich and strange. I hope that affection and enthusiasm come through in this conversation, and that you’re able to read her book soon.

“What I’m having is fun.”

A vibrant painting by Christopher Noxon showing a riot of pink and green undulating fields, buildings, mountains, and rivers.

After looking over the Big Weirdies at a recent show, a friend said with a wink-wink laugh, “I’ll have what he’s having.”

He’s welcome to it! What I’m having is fun.

I really like this post from my pal Christopher about his approach to “super-saturation and world-building” in his paintings without the use of psychedelics (despite what many people seem to think upon viewing them).

A vibrant painting by Christopher Noxon showing a riot of pink and green undulating and radiating fields, buildings, mountains, cacti, and lakes.