NPR Interviews Kristen Radke About Her Second Graphic Memoir ‘Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness’

From the acclaimed author of Imagine Wanting Only This–a timely and moving meditation on isolation and longing, both as individuals and as a society

There is a silent epidemic in America: loneliness. Shameful to talk about and often misunderstood, loneliness is everywhere, from the most major of metropolises to the smallest of towns.

In Seek You, Kristen Radtke’s wide-ranging exploration of our inner lives and public selves, Radtke digs into the ways in which we attempt to feel closer to one another, and the distance that remains. Through the lenses of gender and violence, technology and art, Radtke ushers us through a history of loneliness and longing, and shares what feels impossible to share.

Ranging from the invention of the laugh-track to the rise of Instagram, the bootstrap-pulling cowboy to the brutal experiments of Harry Harlow, Radtke investigates why we engage with each other, and what we risk when we turn away. With her distinctive, emotionally-charged drawings and deeply empathetic prose, Kristen Radtke masterfully shines a light on some of our most vulnerable and sublime moments, and asks how we might keep the spaces between us from splitting entirely.

In an interview with NPR, Radke explained “when we think of loneliness, we often think of someone who, you know, maybe has no family or friends or who spends great deals of time alone. But solitude and loneliness, while there often is overlap, are two very different things. I think of it as, you know, that moment maybe when you watch a movie with your partner or your best friend, and you’re like, this movie has meant so much to me, it’s so wonderful, I can’t wait for you to see it, and they don’t like the movie.”

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness is available now!

View the full interview here.