Alison Bechdel

Alison Bechdel, born September 10, 1960, is an American cartoonist best known for her long-running comic strip *Dykes to Watch Out For* and her acclaimed graphic memoir *Fun Home*. She grew up in rural Pennsylvania and began her comics career in the 1980s, self-syndicating *Dykes to Watch Out For* in feminist and LGBTQ+ publications. The strip, which ran for 25 years, chronicled the lives of a cast of lesbian characters with wit and political insight. Bechdel's breakthrough came in 2006 with *Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic*, a memoir exploring her relationship with her closeted father and her own coming out. The book was adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical in 2015. She followed with *Are You My Mother?* in 2012, a memoir examining her bond with her mother. Bechdel is also the originator of the Bechdel test, a measure of gender representation in fiction. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2014. Her work has been published internationally, including Danish and German editions. Bechdel continues to write and draw, with her most recent comics appearing in the 2020s.