“I am exactly what I appear to be, if you look closely.” – Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man

Welcome to my home!

Considering that you either googled this site or actually typed the address into your bar, you’ve probably guessed that my name is Andrew J. Rostan. I’m a writer.

When I was growing up in Boardman, Ohio, I was (and still am) an avid reader and a consumer of every kind of pop culture. Eventually I fell in love with the art of narrative to the point where I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That journey has seen me make homes in Boston, Los Angeles, a castle in the Netherlands, and now Chicago, and it led me to a vocation in comics. I write comics—and I love comics—because I believe that storytelling with words or pictures is a realm of infinite possibility, and the combination offers even more chances to innovate, inspire, and touch someone’s life.

I’ve been fortunate to enter the comics world, and more fortunate and grateful that my work has found an audience. My first graphic novel, An Elegy for Amelia Johnson, was named one of the best comics of 2011 by USA Today. My second, an autobiographical work titled Form of a Question (which focuses on my college years and my experience as a Jeopardy! contestant), will be out in 2016. My third…we’re going to find out what that will be together.

I don’t only write comics. I also write fiction, screenplays, and, most of all, essays for the cultural commentary site The Addison Recorder, which I urge all of you to visit.

And now I write here.

This site will increasingly offer news about my books, my appearances at comic stores and conventions, and other updates. However, it is also a place for me to talk about things that don’t always fit into my fictions and non-fictions. For instance:

• The art of writing itself: how I do it, who and what inspires me, what I’ve learned during a decade of trying to get better
• My opinions on things happening in the world. It’s tough to put a label of “left” or “right” on me, but above all, getting to be raised by and know so many extraordinary women, especially in the comics world, and learning about their lives and struggles has made me an unshakeable feminist, and this informs my views on politics and society more than anything. If you disagree…I’m NOT sorry.
• My faith. Since 2008 I have been a member of the Episcopal Church, and my relationship with God has been the most important shaper of my life, my choices, and, yes, my writing and my feminism.
• And other little slices of an existence I see as full of meaning and yet delightfully absurd.

I hope you enjoy being here, and I look forward to interacting with you all in comments and on Facebook and Twitter.

Very special thanks to Christina Brandon (@brandonically) for helping with this site!

Top photo by Jonathan Ade. Bottom photo by Kate Berman.