Emotional Support Animals by Nicole J. Georges with Jessica Hopper

We are thrilled to host Nicole Georges for an event celebrating the release of Emotional Support Animals: Anonymous Fuzzball Comics + Workbook. For this event, Nicole will be joined in conversation by Jessica Hopper.

This event will include a conversation and a short comics-drawing workshop. No supplies needed!

Emotional Support Animals is a collection of comics and worksheets featuring adorable and irresistible emotional support animals offering words of compassion and wisdom, delivering smiles along with experience, strength, and hope.
What if your therapist was a cardigan-wearing walrus sipping a cup of coffee? Emotional Support Animals answers this question in a series of sweet comics and engaging worksheets. Nicole Georges presents small doses of therapy in the form of humorous illustrations about serious subjects. Picture a pug assuring you that it's not cruel to say no or hold a boundary, or a crocodile reminding you that when you take care of yourself, you have more capacity to give. Inspired by Nicole’s experiences with grief and healing, her Anonymous Fuzzball comics touch on themes of self-worth, boundaries, and balance. Using quirky animals as her subjects, she proves that hard truths are easier to digest in an adorable package.
Affirmations include:

• "Just because someone's having a big reaction doesn't mean I did anything wrong."
• "You're not going to mess up something that's meant for you."
• "As I love myself more, I demand less of others."
• "What people say is just information. You don't have to take it personally."
• "I don't need to achieve anything to be lovable."

Nicole J. Georges is an award-winning graphic novelist, podcaster & professor from Portland, OR.

She is the author of the graphic memoirs Calling Dr. Laura, and Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home. Her podcast with Oregon Public Broadcasting, Relative Fiction, won an Edward R. Murrow Award.

Nicole has been drawing emotional support animal illustrations and leading comics-based self-care and grief workshops worldwide since 2020.

Jessica Hopper is the author of the books The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic and Night Moves. Her writing has appeared in GQ, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Elle, and Bookforum, among other outlets. A long time contributor to the Chicago Reader, she has been a columnist for the Village Voice and Chicago Tribune, the music consultant for This American Life, the editorial director for MTV News, and a senior editor at Pitchfork and Rookie. Her essays have appeared in several editions of Best Music Writing, and she currently serves as series editor of the American Music Series at the University of Texas Press.

Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email [email protected] by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email .

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Women & Children First, 5233 North Clark Street, Chicago, United States

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