I grew up listening to songs and reading stories about migrant labour before I had a complete understanding about the cycle of that kind of work.

We have been exporting labour for so many generations there, way back beyond my grandparents' time. Kate Beaton: That's a deeply ingrained idea in Cape Breton. Shelagh Rogers: When did you understand that you would have to leave Cape Breton to find work?

25, 2023.ĭucks was named one of CBC Books' top Canadian comics of 2022 and was also one of two Canadian books on Barack Obama's list of favourite books of 2022.īeaton spoke with Shelagh Rogers about writing her graphic memoir Ducks. The final five books and the panellists who chose them will be revealed on Jan. The sassy, historical webcomic gained a following of 500,000 monthly visitors and was eventually turned into a bestselling book.ĭucks is on the Canada Reads 2023 longlist. But Ducks is a layered and multihued memoir.īeaton launched her career by publishing the comic strip Hark! A Vagrantonline. This was in addition to the misogyny she encountered that made it even harder. Life was hard, and eventually loneliness, boredom, isolation set in. A 21-year-old Kate wanted to pay off her student loans, so she headed down the road to the oil sands.

Kate Beaton's latest book Ducksis a nuanced graphic memoir of her time living and working in Alberta's oil patch.Īs a young woman, cartoonist Kate Beaton left her home in Cape Breton to find work, a time-worn story for many people in Atlantic Canada. The Next Chapter 20:51 Kate Beaton on Ducks Kate Beaton talks to Shelagh Rogers about her graphic memoir, Ducks.

Ducks by Kate Beaton