Lion Forge To Publish Hazel Newlevant’s Graphic Memoir ‘No Ivy League’
St. Louis indie graphic novel publisher Lion Forge has acquired No Ivy League, a 200-page graphic memoir by Hazel Newlevant and will publish the book in late 2018.
In addition to publishing Newelvant’s graphic memoir, Lion Forge has also hired her as an associate editor. Newlevant was represented in the book acquisition by literary agent Tanya Mckinnon of Mckinnon McIntyre.
In No Ivy League, Newlevant looks back to her teenage years, when she was 17 years old and working a summer job to clearing ivy from a forest near Portland, Or. to make money to go to a concert. Newlevant, white, home schooled and affluent, found herself working alongside African American teens for the first time. She reports a black teen for a sexual insult and is forced to confront the reality of racial insularity and her own white privilege.
Lion Forge v-p, executive editor Andrea Colvin, who acquired the book, said, “Many artists gravitate toward autobiography, but Hazel’s willingness—and ability—to show those parts of herself that are unlikeable, awkward, even ugly, elevates her craft. We cringe with her when she makes the wrong decision, and ultimately cheer her on as she forces herself to learn from her mistakes.”
