Tom Toro
Acclaimed Cartoonist, New Yorker Cover Artist & Award-Winning Children's Book Author & Illustrator
Tom Toro
Acclaimed Cartoonist, New Yorker Cover Artist & Award-Winning Children's Book Author & Illustrator
Biography
Tom Toro is an acclaimed cartoonist, New Yorker cover artist, and award-winning children's book author & illustrator. His work has been a popular feature of The New Yorker for over a decade.
His drawings also have appeared in The New York Times, the Paris Review, Playboy, and many other publications. He is the creator of the syndicated comic strip Home Free with Andrews McMeel. Tom’s books include And to Think We Started as a Book Club… (Andrews McMeel), Crocodiles Need Friends, Too! (Little, Brown), How to Potty Train Your Porcupine (Little, Brown), A User's Guide to Democracy (Celadon), I'm Terrified of Bath Time and Back to School, Backpack! in collaboration with Simon Rich (Little, Brown), and Tiny Hands (Dock Street Press).
Tom's awards include the 2023 Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award and the 2024 Kentucky Bluegrass Award. He was a finalist for the 2019 and 2022 Reuben awards for gag cartoonist of the year. He serves as the chair of the Northwest Chapter of the National Cartoonist Society. His literary fiction has been shortlisted for the Disquiet International Literary Prize, and he contributed a dozen essays to The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons.
Tom graduated cum laude from Yale, where he received the Betts Prize for his literary work, while serving as cartoon editor of the Yale Herald and the captain of the national champion lightweight rowing team. Tom has been profiled by NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Huffington Post.
He lives in Portland, Oregon with his family, which somehow includes too many cats.
Speech Topics
You Don't Look a Day Over 100: A Century of New Yorker Cartoons
Has it really been ten decades?! We look back on the very best cartoons from The New Yorker over the past century and explore how they've met their historic and cultural moments with humor and insight.
Explaining the Joke: What Makes New Yorker Cartoons So Funny
An entertaining and illuminating deep dive into how cartoons work, from drawing to caption, and how The New Yorker has played a crucial role in the development of this unique and delightful artform.
Funny as Heck: The Hilarious & Macabre World of Charles Addams
Arguably the greatest American cartoonist, and a legendary icon of The New Yorker, Charles Addams left an imprint on our culture that is unrivaled. He did it with cartoons that are creepy, morbid, and just plain weird—but always insanely funny. We take a journey into his off-kilter world and revel in its wondrous oddity.
Humor is No Laughing Matter: Cartoons & the First Amendment
We don't normally think of humor as a vital part of free speech, but when citizens aren't allowed to lampoon their leaders, society's in trouble. We examine the interplay of satire, jokes, and social justice through the lens of cartoons in America and across the globe.
Teach Your Children Well: Five Picture Books That Changed the World
Once in a generation, a picture book is created that not only amuses and educates children, but changes the very nature of childhood itself. We'll crack open the pages of Where the Wild Things Are, Green Eggs and Ham, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus, and Snowy Day, to learn how these seminal works of children's literature reshaped our culture.
Compassionate Critters: What Animals Teach Us About Being Human
Why do so many children's books have animal characters? How do our furry, scaly, feathered friends awaken our sense of curiosity and empathy? Together we'll explore how animals characters and their exciting stories might just be the key to understanding human nature.
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