“Mike Luckovich should crawl back into his cradle until he matures.”
“Luckovich is an asset not only to Atlanta, but to the entire country.”
“He has achieved new lows countless times.”
“He is my hero!”
“Luckovich is a louse.”
As evidenced by these reader comments, and as once said by editorial page editor Cynthia Tucker: “People either love him, or love to hate him.”
Luckovich, editorial cartoonist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1989, reveals in his latest book, "A Very Stable Genius," that the hate mail he gets in response to his widely syndicated cartoons does not bother him. In fact, he thinks it's "kind of fun" people take time to call him names.
Speaking at the AJC Decatur Book Festival this weekend, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist will discuss his new collection, which covers President Donald Trump from his campaign’s infancy — with the candidate portrayed as a baby monster created by the GOP and Fox News — through the Mueller investigation. The cartoons are organized into pseudo chapters with cartoon tweets introducing subjects such as Trump’s election, his administration and his “outreach to women.”
“It’s my favorite Trump cartoons, but I also actually write in it about what it’s like to be a cartoonist in the Trump era,” the Seattle native said. Readers will see the cartoon that would have run had Hillary Clinton won, learn what one of the most depressing days of Luckovich’s life was, and hear why he compares covering Trump to being married to a nymphomaniac.
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The selection of Luckovich’s profound cartoons drawn since early 2016 provides a pulse of our current climate, the same way his previous books, “Lotsa Luckovich” and “Four More Wars!,” did for the mid-’90s and the George W. Bush administration. Many are funny, plenty are laced with a heavy dose of eeriness, and all convey Luckovich’s knack for exaggerating important moments into unforgettable images.
Luckovich, a 1982 graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in political science, will sign autographs at the AJC tent at noon Saturday before being interviewed by AJC editor Kevin Riley from 3-3:45 p.m. Saturday at the Marriott Conference Center A, 130 Clairmont Ave., as part of the Decatur Book Festival.
EVENT PREVIEW
AJC Decatur Book Festival. Aug. 31-Sept. 2. Free. Various venues. decaturbookfestival.com.
Keynote: Kenny Leon. 8 p.m. Aug. 31. Sold out. Schwartz Center at Emory University, 1700 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta.
Kidnote: Harry Potter celebration. 5 p.m. Aug. 31. Free but ticket required. Presser Hall at Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur.
Street Festival: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 1, noon-6 p.m. Sept. 2, downtown Decatur.