" The comic hits home but not too hard, making a taboo subject easy to talk about. "
Daniel Goldsmith
Daniel Goldsmith is professor of humanities at Dawson College and the author of Choose Your Metaphor: Walking the One Path that Goes by Many Names. When he’s not chasing after his two young children, you might find him hiking in the Quebec countryside with a book of philosophy and a yoga mat on his back.
After learning about the work of Rachel Yehuda and Bessel van der Kolk, Daniel became fascinated with how trauma could be transmitted intergenerationally, and the role that the body plays in storing traumatic memories. His work on Felix and Anya was born out of the desire to inspire, inform, and educate others about the impact of trauma in their lives. He hopes that Felix and Anya will open a space for us to pause and reflect on the way we conceptualize and respond to trauma.
Alain Chevarier
Alain's Links
Mark Patrick McGuire
Mark lives in Montréal with his partner and two kids. He grew up in the Midwest and studied English literature and played basketball at Davidson College in North Carolina. He earned a master’s in Asian studies at Cornell University, PhD in Religious studies at Concordia University, and has taught Humanities at John Abbott College since 2005. Felix and Anya was made with the intention to reduce suffering by sharing new research on trauma and recovery in an accessible comic book.
A film and discussion guide he made with Jean-Marc Abela about Japanese mountain asceticism called Shugendo Now won a national media award and has been screened at festivals and on campuses worldwide. With Alain Chevarier, Mark is currently writing a graphic novel about fatherhood and masculinity called Clayfooted Giants.