My publisher looked this up and mine is the first illustrated book to be up for the nonfiction prize ever. It was a huge honor just to be on the shortlist. And there is no comics prize, it was for the nonfiction award. I know when the book first came out in Canada you were a finalist for the Governor General Award. It is human and humane, and it will stay with you. The book is passionate and overwhelming and unsparing and joyous and unsentimental and beautiful and painful. Harrison knows that cancer will kill her, but she is determined every day to not let it destroy her.

She is making comics and writing stories, going on safari in Africa and taking part in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and climbing mountains. In-Between Days is not a saccharine, overly sunny book that claims a positive attitude is the key to survival rather, Harrison’s work is the embodiment of Antonio Gramsci’s oft-quoted statement, “I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” Harrison’s book is dark but not despairing, and that’s because of her personality. The book was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction in Canada, the first comic to be a finalist for the prize in any category, and pieces which appear in the book have been nominated for The National Magazine Award and the Canadian Magazine Award. Harrison’s first book, In-Between Days, is a collection of her comics and prose, many of which appeared in The Walrus. Trained as an artist, Harrison turned to narrative for the first time and began making comics and writing stories about living with her diagnosis, coping with the many problems, and imagining a path forward. This terminal diagnosis changed Harrison’s life and her work. When Teva Harrison was 37, she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer.

In-Between Days by Teva Harrison