Teva Harrison

Teva Harrison (August 20, 1976, Williams, Oregon, U.S. – April 28, 2019, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)^[1] was a Canadian-American writer and graphic artist. She was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at age 37, and began to document her experiences with the terminal illness using illustrations and essays.^[2] Her works were compiled into a graphic memoir called In-Between Days.^[3] The book was a finalist for the 2016 Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction,^[4] and put Harrison on the list of 16 Torontonians to Watch.^[5] Harrison won the 2016 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize,^[1] and was a finalist for the 2017 Joe Shuster Award for Cartoonist/Auteur.^[6]

She also published The Joyful Living Colouring Book^[7] in 2016, and a posthumous collection of poetry of drawings, Not One of These Poems is About You was published in January 2020.^[8]

She wrote for The Walrus,^[9] Granta,^[10] and HuffPost,^[11] and was featured in the Globe and Mail,^[12] Creative Mornings,^[13] HuffPost Canada,^[14][15] Kirkus Reviews,^[16] The New York Times,^[17][18] and WNYC.^[19] She also spoke on CBC Radio about her experience.^[20][21] She became a respected voice on issues around metastatic breast cancer,^[22] opioids,^[23] and the power of nature.^[24][25]

Harrison's art was featured in a solo exhibition^[26] at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2017, and she was the lead illustrator of Draw Me Close, a virtual-reality theatre production, created by Jordan Tannahill and co-produced by the National Theatre and the National Film Board. Sections of Draw Me Close were featured at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and the 74th Venice Film Festival.^[27] Draw Me Close was to have its North American premiere with Toronto's Soulpepper in 2020.