In her first book, Canadian writer and cartoonist Leavitt shows her. I’m working with Giant Ant on a feature-length animation of Tangles. A STORY ABOUT ALZHEIMERS, MY MOTHER, AND ME. Tangles has been published in the US, UK, France, Germany and Korea and has become an important text in the field of graphic medicine (comics about health-related issues). I was eager to share my experience, but quite unprepared for the enthusiastic response the book has received from critics and readers since it was first published in 2010 by Freehand, a small press in Alberta. In Tangles, my goal was to create an unsparing documentation of our family’s journey, including not only the grief, anger and fear, but also the moments of love and joy and even some dark humour.

Over the next six years I collected notes and sketches, and a few months after Mom died, I sat down on the floor with my notebooks piled around me, and cut and pasted together words and images to create the first rough version of Tangles. When my mother Midge was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 55, I knew right away that I wanted to write about the unknown territory my family was entering – disorienting, devastating and strange, but also full of tenderness and love. Nancy Lee, author of Dead Girls Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me Her spare, evocative illustrations and the tender restraint of her prose will leave you breathless, heartbroken and profoundly grateful.” “Losing words and stories proves particularly debilitating for a woman who was once so enthused by them - with her husband, fellow teacher Rob, she “built a life of books and art and creativity.“Brimming with humility and insight, Leavitt proves herself a skilled and unflinching memoirist. “The fabric of the Leavitt family is beautifully woven… In a scene with Sarah sitting beside her mother in the garden she can no longer attend to, Midge’s admission to feeling that she has lost all her own sweetness underscores poignantly what is at this memoir’s core - the observed and treasured remembrances of a gentle, vibrant individual.” “Not only a spot-on portrait of the dark comedy and vast sadness that Alzheimer’s contains, the book is a fitting tribute to Leavitt’s mom.” Tangles: A story about Alzheimers, my mother and me (Freehand 2010 23.96) is her first book and it was the first graphic novel to be shortlisted for the. Leavitt is represented by Samantha Haywood at the Transatlantic Agency, and the deal was brokered by Samantha Haywood with Transatlantic TV Film agent, Laura Cameron. To read more about this exciting announcement, please go to: “Monarch Media, Point Grey Pictures, Lylas Pictures and Giant Ant are teaming to produce an animated feature based on Sarah Leavitt’s acclaimed memoir, Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me.” DEADLINE ANNOUNCES ‘TANGLES’ ANIMATED FILM BASED ON SARAH LEAVITT’S ALZHEIMER’S-THEMED GRAPHIC NOVEL IN WORKS FROM MONARCH MEDIA, POINT GREY PICTURES, LYLAS PICTURES & GIANT ANT

Tangles by Sarah Leavitt