MariNaomi
MariNaomi (born 1973) is an American graphic artist and cartoonist who founded and publishes three online databases of cartoonists: the Cartoonists of Color Database, the Queer Cartoonists Database and the Disabled Cartoonists Database. The opt-in per creator database Queer Cartoonists contains 775 entries as of May 2018 and has been reported to be helpful in the professional careers of upcoming cartoonists.
MariNaomi's has been drawing comics since 1997, starting out as a zine creator. Her comics are usually autobiographical. She talks about the search for her roots, her status as a mixed race queer woman, as well as her feminism. Her article "Writing People of Color" discusses how people of color should approach writing about people from a race that is not their own. MariNaomi stated "I feel like race is such a sensitive issue that I wanted feedback and I wanted to know how better to do it and to share that information.".
MariNaomi wrote an article It Happened to Me: I Was Sexually Harassed Onstage at a Comic Convention Panel for XOJane in 2013 describing her experience of being harassed on stage as a panelist at a comics convention. She did not name her harasser, but Scott Lobdell later came forward and issued a public apology for his actions.
Her mother is Japanese and her father is a Caucasian American. Born Mari Naomi Schaal in Texas in 1973, she grew up in Mill Valley, California and later moved to San Jose, California. She began using the name MariNaomi in 2003. She worked in illegal hostess bars in the United States and briefly lived in Japan. She wrote about those experiences in her memoir Turning Japanese.
Books
- Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial, 2011) ISBN 0062009230
- Dragon's Breath and Other True Stories (2dcloud/Uncivilized Books, 2014) ISBN 1941250017
- Turning Japanese (2dcloud, 2016) ISBN 1937541169
- I Thought YOU Hated ME (Retrofit Comics, 2016) ISBN 1940398495
- Losing the Girl (Graphic Universe, 2018) ISBN 1541510445
- Gravity's Pull (Graphic Universe, 2018) ISBN 154154269X