Eli Valley | |
---|---|
Valley in March 2023 | |
Born | Eli Valley 1970 Rhode Island, U.S. |
Education | Cornell University |
Occupation(s) | Cartoonist and author |
Eli Valley is an American cartoonist and author. He is best known for his political cartoons, which often feature prominent politicians, businesspeople, and media personalities.
Early life and education
Valley was born in Rhode Island, and grew up Troy, New York, and New Jersey. His father was a Conservative rabbi, while his mother was secular. Valley has one sister. He attended Jewish day school until 8th grade, and received an undergraduate degree in English from Cornell University. While at Cornell, Valley contributed cartoons to The Cornell Daily Sun, the student newspaper.
Career
Valley published a travel book, The Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel Guide and Resource Book to Prague, Warsaw, Crakow, and Budapest (1999, Jason Aronson).
Valley was artist-in-residence at The Forward from 2011 to 2013.
In October 2013, after Valley satirized Abraham Foxman as an antisemite for his antagonism toward anti-Zionist Jews, Foxman pressured the newspaper to stop publishing Valley's work.
In 2017, Valley published Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel (2017, OR Books), a collection of comics and essays exploring American Jewish identity and the relationship of American Jews with Israel. In The Los Angeles Review of Books, Nathan Goldman wrote, "The book is not only a towering artistic achievement and a disturbing chronicle of American Jewry’s relationship to Israel over the last 10 years, but also a battle cry for a resurgent American Jewish left in a harrowing time of far-right power in the United States and Israel."
Writing in Vulture, Abraham Riesman has referred to Valley's work as "expressionist woodcut-esque."
Valley contributed illustrations to The Chapo Guide to Revolution. Writing in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Will Tomer said the book resembled "an old-school MAD Magazine, thanks in part to the stomach-turning illustrations of Eli Valley."
Valley's "Schlonged!," about Donald Trump's obsession with size, was selected for The Best American Comics 2017.
In March 2019, Valley drew a cartoon satirizing Meghan McCain's appropriation of Jewish identity after McCain wept while castigating Ilhan Omar as an antisemite for her remarks about Israel on "The View." McCain called the cartoon "one of the most anti-semitic things I've ever seen," which caused controversy and discussion about Christian Zionist allegations of antisemitism.
Bibliography
Non-fiction
- Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel Guide & Resource Book to Prague, Warsaw, Crakow & Budapest (1999)
Collections
- Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel (2017, OR Books)
References
- Worcester, Kent (1 September 2010). "The Eli Valley Interview". The Comics Journal. Archived from the original on 2011-03-16. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- Vartanian, Hrag (May 8, 2022). "The Cartoonist the US Right-Wing Political Establishment Loves to Hate". Hyperallergic. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
- ^ Riesman, Abraham (20 February 2019). "Eli Valley Is the Angriest Political Cartoonist in America". Vulture. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- Valley, Eli (1998). The great Jewish cities of Central and Eastern Europe: a travel guide and resource book to Prague, Warsaw, Crakow, and Budapest. Northvale, NJ: Aronson. ISBN 978-0-7657-6000-5.
- "How America's Most Controversial 'non-Zionist' Comic Sparked Outrage With His New 'Bigoted' Book on Diaspora Jews". Haaretz. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- "It Happened on Halloween". The Forward. 2013-10-28. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- Riesman, Abraham (2019-02-20). "Eli Valley Is the Angriest Political Cartoonist in America". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- Prince, Cathryn J. "How satire got a cartoonist fired from a Jewish newspaper". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- Goldman, Nathan (11 November 2017). ""Redefining Jewish Authenticity: An Interview with Eli Valley"".
- Valley, Eli; Beinart, Peter (2017). Diaspora boy: comics on crisis in America and Israel (First printing ed.). New York: OR Books. ISBN 978-1-68219-070-8.
- Buhle, Paul. "Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
- Riesman, Abraham (February 20, 2019). "Eli Valley is the Angriest Political Cartoonist in America". Vulture (New York Magazine). Retrieved August 17, 2022 – via vulture.com.
- Hughes, Donald (23 August 2018). "…of what use was the rule?". Harper's. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- Tomer, Will (October 21, 2018). "You say you want a revolution?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. D5. Retrieved August 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- Truitt, Brian (December 24, 2017). "Breaking down writing's 'Best': The Best American Comics 2017". The Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader. p. C2. Retrieved August 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Here's @MeghanMcCain. Shabbat Shalom". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- "Eli Valley is Not Sorry". Popula. 2019-03-11. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- Flood, Brian (2019-03-07). "Emotional Meghan McCain slams anti-Semitism: 'What Ilhan Omar is saying is very scary'". Fox News. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- "Meghan McCain brought to tears during anti-Semitism debate: 'What Ilhan Omar is saying is very scary'". Yahoo Life. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- "Oh God, Meghan McCain Cried About Ilhan Omar". Splinter. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- Garcia, Victor (2019-03-08). "Meghan McCain accuses Jewish artist of anti-Semitism after mocking her comments on Omar". Fox News. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- Grove, Lloyd (2019-07-03). "Meghan McCain, Feeling Like an 'Exhausted, Defeated .. Caged Animal,' May Exit 'The View'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- ToI Staff; Agencies. "Meghan McCain raps anti-Semitism, gets 'anti-Semitic' treatment by Jewish artist". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- "Ezra Koenig schools Meghan McCain on antisemitism". The FADER. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
External links
- Personal website
- Twitter page
- Jewish Currents cartoon archives (2017-present)
- cartoon archives from The Forward
- 1970 births
- Living people
- 21st-century American Jews
- 21st-century American male writers
- Alternative cartoonists
- American cartoonists
- Cornell University alumni
- Jewish American anti-Zionists
- American anti-Zionists
- Jewish American artists
- Jewish American comics creators
- Jewish American comics writers
- Jewish socialists
- Members of the Democratic Socialists of America
- People from Rhode Island
- Anti-Zionist Jews