Nicholas Köhler

Confronted with writer and illustrator Leanne Shapton’s latest book, Toys Talking, bookstore clerks must face a quandary: Where to place it? An intriguing and beautiful little picture book, it looks and claims to be aimed at children—so much so that it will undoubtedly trick many aunts and honorary uncles, and quite possibly some…

Guy Delisle, who grew up in middle class Quebec City, has come to be known for sharply observed graphic-novel travelogues from very uncomfortable places (Pyongyang, Shenzhen, Rangoon, Jerusalem). A few years ago, when his wife left her job with Doctors Without Borders, the international non-governmental organization that led to so much of his foreign adventuring, Delisle no doubt faced an identity…