Spent

The funniest, most satirical cartoon she has ever written – as well as, perhaps, the most prescient * Observer *A gathering of threads from Bechdel’s life and work, a celebration of and a rumination on where she has landed in late middle age, and how some of her fictional creations might live alongside her…this wise and playful tale has deep roots. – James Smart * Guardian *A new graphic novel from the author of Fun Home is always a joy * Guardian, Summer Reads of 2025 *Spent is… absorbing and entertaining in its satire and absurdism * Times Literary Supplement *A hilarious work of autofiction… Spent is a delight for longtime fans of the queer cartoonist and newcomers to her talents alike * DIVA *Very funny and self-hating in a good way. – Zadie Smith * Granta Summer Reads 2025 *An enjoyable portrait of ageing radicals * Guardian, Books of the Year *

Alison Bechdel is the author of three internationally acclaimed graphic memoirs, Fun Home- A Family Tragicomic, Are You My Mother?- A Comic Drama and The Secret to Superhuman Strength. Fun Home was a New York Times bestseller, won an Eisner Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was named a Best Book of the 21st Century by the Guardian, was adapted to a broadway musical which won five Tony Awards and is currently being adapted for cinema. For twenty-five years, she wrote and drew the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, a visual chronicle of modern life - queer and otherwise - considered ‘one of the preeminent oeuvres in the comics genre’. Alison Bechdel is guest editor of Best American Comics, 2011, and has drawn comics for Slate, McSweeney’s, Entertainment Weekly, Granta, and The New York Times Book Review. In 2014 she was named as one of the recipients of the MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award.