The Sylvia ChroniclesMedia Release -- The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes Nicole Hollander, creator of the nationally syndicated comic strip Sylvia for a special presentation and booksigning on Thursday, August 19, from 7:00-9:00pm.

Since drawing her first Sylvia strip in 1979, the nationally syndicated cartoonist Nicole Hollander has channeled her acerbic wit and razor-sharp sensibilities through the incomparable and irascible Sylvia, a Chicago original whose hilarious commentary on American life has won over millions of loyal readers. THE SYLVIA CHRONICLES presents Sylvia's singular take on contemporary politics, from the early days of Reagan to the latter days of Palin. Along the way, she takes on subjects as varied as the hazards of allowing death row convicts a last smoke, an imaginary exchange with Donald Rumsfeld's younger brother, and the dangers of texting while driving an SUV and reaching across the seat for a Snickers bar—recording not only the most memorable and outrageous events of the past three decades but also the often overlooked absurdities of our daily lives. Charting thirty years of fashion, food, sexual mores, and political hypocrisy, THE SYLVIA CHRONICLES is nothing less than a funhouse mirror of our times.

About Nicole Hollander: With a Master of Fine Arts degree from Boston University, Nicole Hollander had plans to become a painter but shifted her focus to graphic design instead. After moving back to Chicago, Hollander worked as an art teacher and art director. Sylvia was first published in the feminist magazine The Spokeswoman in 1976 and is now an internationally syndicated comic strip distributed by Tribune Media Services and appearing in over eighty newspapers. Hollander created the Sylvia character to "hack her way through the jungle of aging." Hollander has published numerous Sylvia collections, including Never Take Your Cat to a Salad Bar and Female Problems: An Unhelpful Guide, which was turned into a musical in 1998. She lives in Chicago.

For more information, please visit her website: http://www.nicolehollander.com.

The SYLVIA CHRONICLES: 30 years of graphic misbehavior from reagan to obama By Nicole Hollander Foreword by Jules Feiffer THE NEW PRESS | August 3, 2010 Paperback | $19.95 | 125 pages ISBN: 978-1-59558-494-6