Talk

BFA Visual & Critical Studies and the Honors Program present cartoonist and writer Sofia Warren and New York State Senator Julia Salazar to discuss Warren’s new graphic novel, Radical: My Year With a Socialist State Senator.

In early 2018, cartoonist Sofia Warren was not paying attention to New York state politics. But that summer, her Brooklyn neighborhood began buzzing about Julia Salazar, a 27-year-old democratic socialist running for state senate whose grassroots campaign was inspiring an army of volunteers. When they beat the odds and won, Warren found herself wondering what would happen next. How does it work when an outsider who runs on revolutionary change has to actually do the job? So she decided to find out.

Using the graphic memoir format, Radical: My Year with a Socialist Senator is a remarkable firsthand account of Warren’s experience embedded with Julia Salazar and her staff during their first year in office. From candid conversations and eyewitness experiences, Warren builds a gripping and intimate portrait of a scrappy team of community organizers battling entrenched power structures, particularly to advance Julia’s marquee issue of housing rights.

At every key point during the year—setting up an office, navigating insider politics, public pushback, testy staff meetings, emotional speeches, protest marches, setbacks and victories—Warren is up close and personal with Salazar and her team, observing, questioning and drawing, as they try to translate their ideals into concrete legislation. Along the way, Warren works toward answers to deeper questions: what makes a good leader? What does it mean to be a part of a community? Can democracy work? How can everyday people make change happen?

Sofia Warren has been a cartoonist for The New Yorker since 2017, contributing print cartoons and comics and essays for the digital humor section. Her comics have also run in MoMA Magazine, Narrative Magazine and Catapult, among other places. Illustration and animation clients include Cartier, Phillips Auction House, HBO, Shopify, Squarespace and L’Uomo Vogue. Radical is her first book, published in 2022 through Top Shelf Productions. She is a visiting professor at Wesleyan University.

New York State Senator Julia Salazar represents District 18 in Brooklyn and is the Chair of the Senate’s Committee on Crimes, Crime Victims and Corrections. Upon her election in 2018, she became the first member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the youngest woman elected in the history of the New York State Senate. Previously, she worked as a community organizer and began her advocacy during her time as a college student at Columbia University, where she advocated for the rights of fellow tenants and service industry workers.