Paula grew up in Northeast England, where part of her graphic memoir, The Facts of Life (Myriad 2017), is set. She studied Graphic Design (BA), specialising in Illustration, at Bristol Polytechnic (UWE). She works from her home studio in Bristol as an illustrator and writer.
An extract from The Facts of Life was shortlisted by judges including Ian Rankin, Bryan Talbot and Hannah Berry for the inaugural First Fictions’ First Graphic Novel Competition in 2012.
Her interest in autobiographical comics grew in the mid-noughties, and she has since self-published comics, including Spooky Womb and X-Utero, which have been stocked in Foyles London, Orbital Comics, and Blackwells at Wellcome Collection. She has coordinated pop-up Laydeez do Comics events in Bristol, and presented her work at LDComics in London and Leeds, at two Graphic Medicine events, and the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival 2013. Her comics about miscarriage appeared in an academic journal, Configurations, from Johns Hopkins University Press, and she was also commissioned to produce work for Phoenix Project, a research project by University of Sheffield about cancer and relationships.
Paula has illustrated numerous children’s books and is the author of three picture books: It Takes Two to T’wit T’woo, Roble’s Rain Dance (Bonney Press, 2012) and The Lion Who Lost His Roar but Learnt to Draw (QED, 2014). Her very first published artwork appeared in Jackie magazine, in 1984, after she sent it to the letters page.
She posts comics and work in progress on her blog, www.paulaknight.wordpress.com, which has twice earned ‘blog of the week’ on Mumsnet Bloggers Network. In 2018, Paula recorded a presentation to Cardiff Book Talk on The Facts of Life, which was also shown at Fertility Fest.
Instagram: @paulajkstudio
Interviews and Features
Arc Stockton
‘Every act counts, however small’. A podcast interview with Paula Knight by illustrator Lizzie Lovejoy in which they discuss creativity, disability and activism.
Pronatalism and (M)otherhood in Paula Knight's The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life by Paula Knight is the focus of this paper by Sathyaraj Venkatesan and Chinmay Murali for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. The paper discusses how the pluripotent space of the comics medium allows the author to arraign the ideology of pronatalism as an oppressive force that mediates her lived experience of infertility. It also examines the socially constructed and gendered nature of motherhood as it unfolds in Knight’s narrative. Buy and read online HERE.
Interview with Paula Knight on ‘Mother Should?’
Paula Knight talks to Dr Elizabeth Starr about how her graphic memoir The Facts of Life offers alternative ways of valuing women’s lives beyond motherhood, for the website Mother Should?
Graphic Medicine on Comics Alternative
Derek Royal and Andy Kunka are hosts at Comics Alternative, a weekly US podcast by ‘two guys with PhDs’. In this episode they discuss Paula Knight’s The Facts of Life and Graphic Medicine in general.
Swans, green spaces and bands
Paula Knight talks to Joe Melia of B24/7 about the influence of Bristol on her creative life:
‘I’ve lived here since 1988 when I arrived from the north-east to study Graphic Design/ Illustration at Bristol Poly (now UWE). At college, the importance of keeping a sketchbook to hand was engraved on my consciousness for life, and I rarely go anywhere without one now for fear of losing ideas.’
Paula Knight at LDComics
Paula Knight and fellow Myriad graphic novelist, Ian Williams, took part in LDComics, Leeds, to discuss their up and coming graphic novels. Comic artist Jules Valera captured the event through various sketches and paintings, which you can also see on her blog here.
Blog
'Every act counts, however small’. A podcast interview with Paula Knight by illustrator Lizzie Lovejoy in which they discuss creativity, disability and activism. https://arconline.co.uk/a-change-of-perspective-podcast-episode-4-creativity-and-disability-with-paula-knight/