My new Kickstarter Campaign is now live and runs Oct 24 – Nov 20, 2025

Potato Nose: 1977, the graphic novel

A tragicomic memoir of pubescent anxiety and ecstatic delusion

“If you read someone else’s diary, you get what you deserve.” ― David Sedaris

THE PROJECT

I am seeking funding for artist subsistence to begin the DEVELOPMENT PHASE of Potato Nose: 1977. This graphic novel project is based on the diary I wrote at age 14/15. The development phase includes research, writing, exploring visual language, scripting and storyboarding a 12-15 page prologue comic. This will ultimately lead to a 150-ish page creative non-fiction graphic novel.

The 1977 diary contains my experiences of crippling anxiety and shyness, the horror of high school, the shame of being me… But also the solace of art and dance. Told through both a 1970s lens and the perspective of my present mid 60’s self, the project will use visual storytelling techniques to express the darker, deeper emotions and experiences I could not articulate at age 14. The development phase of this project, will allow me the time to find that visual language.

I met M. in dance class. Our relationship (the heart of the diary) was intense and queer (in every sense of the word) – a connection rooted in narrative fantasy and obsession. We had no words then for the love we shared, but we were each other’s lifeboats (and heartache) and we thought we were goddesses. In reality, we were 2 strange, somewhat creepy, misfits navigating puberty in the streets, subways and suburbs of Stockholm between 1975 to 1977.

Certain names, places and identifying details in Potato Nose: 1977 will be altered. However, the original text will be translated verbatim. “In keeping with the spirit of authenticity, no new sentences were… created or inserted by the editors.” (Mortified, David Nadelberg, 2006)

NOTE: The original entries in this diary are in Swedish but I was already fluent in English. I was born in Sweden in 1962. In 1968, we emigrated to Canada. We spent every summer in Sweden (“home”) and made the full move back home in 1975. However, we ended up only spending two years in Sweden before heading back “home” to Canada in late summer 1977.

June 15, 1977. Diary entry. “Secret: I would like so much to say goodbye to him in person. But how? Just go there? I want so much to hug him goodbye. Now, no one… NO ONE is allowed to read this. I wish he would come here to say goodbye to me. I have a new dance teacher. Her name is Ann Parson [of Joffrey Ballet, New York City]. I am taking a summer course with her. She speaks American English. She has so much feeling. She is not at all boring like Lillemor and she always does different things. She has such an imagination. ‘Put away plates, tell stories, throw Frisbee, catch a football, blow with a straw into a coca-cola bottle.’ Every step refers to something in reality. I will learn a lot from her. – Nina”

I would sign off my entries as “Nina,” my family nickname. My dear sweet dog, Milton, was my constant companion. I would spend hours in the forest with him, sitting on a rock drawing from Archie comics as he ran around.

WHO AM I?

I am an artist, writer, and researcher, passionate about creative process. Born in Sweden in 1962, I am deeply grateful to live in Vancouver, Canada, on the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples. My first graphic novel, Salt Green Death (Conundrum Press, May 2025), is a work of creative non-fiction containing 21 years of archival research. In October 2025, the New York Public Library named Salt Green Death as one of the 50 best new comics and graphic novels for adults published in 2025. A prologue to the work, Joseph, was self-published as a limited edition broadsheet in 2022. You can read more about me at katthorsen.com.

WHY “POTATO NOSE”?

Deep into puberty with its accompanying body changes, I saw my nose as large and puffy, shaped like a potato. I stared obsessively into the mirror, at times spitting at my image.

November 21, 1977. Letter from Sweden from M. I think your student photo is really cute. You don’t have a big nose!!! Maybe it just looks like that in certain angles? Be happy for that. Nothing helps me, no matter what angle I sit. I am glad the operation went well! Lucky, lucky, lucky…. Tumour. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Please don’t… ah… please don’t get another tumour because then I will lose my spirit. I have been so worried!

THE DIAGNOSIS

Potato Nose: 1977 also contains the mention of a fateful diagnosis after finding a parotid gland tumour in my left cheek. It is weird how little I addressed this event in my diary even though it marked the beginning of a seven-year journey through surgeries and radiation treatments. I don’t know if it was about putting on a brave face to not make my mom worry. I did write my childhood friend about it. I may have found that a safer way to express my fears.

December 16, 1977. Diary entry. Oh, dear. Peo and I never talked to each other when we saw each other in person in Sweden this past year. Oh, I regret it so. I wrote to him and told him everything. I wrote him from the hospital after they shaved my hair before the operation. I was crying and it felt good to write to him. To my surprise he has written back…

LEGACY

In Fall 2025, a couple of similar small tumours to the one I was diagnosed with in 1977 have returned. I am still in early days awaiting more tests. This recurrence brings the story full circle, demanding reflection and an artistic response – an essential tool to my mental health and an ongoing part of my personal practice. This project challenges me to integrate my lived experience into a coherent, long-form visual narrative. It pushes me to trust that the personal can resonate universally.

Potato Nose: 1977 the graphic novel is the “pilot episode” of a larger legacy project I have in mind. POTATO NOSE has actually become the name I now use for the entire scope of my work: my sketchbooks, research, artwork, creative explorations and projects. Looking ahead, I plan to archive my hundreds of journals and sketchbooks as an artistic legacy. That is the BIG PICTURE.

My journals are a time capsule, not only of my life. They contain clippings, drawings, letters, to-do lists, magazine covers, self-reflection, creative explorations, photos – all preserved in realtime.

SO… WHO CARES?

Potato Nose: 1977 isn’t just about me. It’s about how someone really lived. I am not rewriting it. I am letting my younger self speak to me and I am responding. The original diary text remains central and verbatim. I want to share my process of journal keeping, to hopefully inspire others to do the same. To show it need not be about pretty pages and eloquent language. It’s the messy drawer. It’s a creative process. It’s therapy. And it’s legacy.

We live in a moment where stories of illness, mental health, and identity are being more openly told. Potato Nose: 1977 enters that conversation with a rare, long-view perspective: that of a queer older adult navigating a health recurrence, and reflecting on what it means to adapt and to remember. But still funny, still creepy and still stupid.

This graphic novel falls under the umbrella of Graphic Medicine: where comics and healthcare intersect to explore how we navigate illness, trauma, and care. My creative inspirations include: graphic memoirists like Alison Bechdel, David Beauchard, and Lynda Barry, all who use experimental visual storytelling to revisit formative experiences. I am also eager to share creative process videos throughout the journey and develop Potato Nose workshops and online tools others can use. 2027 will mark the 50th anniversary of the diary’s beginning. This timing is both symbolic and generative by allowing a lifetime of creative work to culminate in the realization of this story.

As a teen, I often skirted around themes of angst, illness, queer longing, fear and shame, focusing instead on nostalgic or safer memories. Now, as an artist in my mid-60s revisiting this material, I can (literally) draw what I could not say then as I bring adult insight to a formative time. I want to draw out the truth.

REWARD TIERS

“The Curious” $10 CAD

Receive:

Tier A: Receive a digital PDF of the Potato Nose: 1977 Prologue comic (estimated delivery date July 2026)

“The Archivist” $25 CAD

Receive:

Tier A and B: Behind the scenes of my creative process and journal samples

“The Collector” $50 CAD

Receive:

Tiers A, B and C: Signed physical copy (estimated delivery date September 2026)

“The Sitter” $100 CAD

Receive:

Tiers A, B, C and D: A custom hand-drawn 9” x 12” portrait (subject of your choice) in my signature style: china marker, watercolour, acrylic ink on newsprint. (estimated delivery date April 2026)

“The Scholar” $250 CAD

Receive:

Tiers A, B, C, D and E: A private 1.5 hour drawing and journaling class with me on Zoom (you are welcome add friend to the call.) (Anytime in 2026.)

“The Storyteller” $500 CAD

Receive:

Tiers A, B, C, D, E and F: 2 private sessions on Zoom to explore your creative project – we will mind map to explore your ideas and develop some action steps. (Anytime in 2026.)

PROJECTED TIMELINE

JANUARY TO MARCH 2026

Archival and visual research (photos, maps, letters, medical imagery);
Final review of translation (I have completed initial translation rough draft from Swedish to English)
Experiment with visual styles and approaches;
Script and storyboard the Prologue Comic to establish tone, visual language, and narrative rhythm.

APRIL TO MAY 2026

Fully illustrate, ink, and colour the first 12–15 pages to completion as a prologue in comic form. (This comic will function as a teaser to promote the full work at comics and literary festivals, build momentum for publication, and develop relationships with potential publishers or collaborators);
Seek further funding.

JUNE TO AUGUST 2026

Self-publish limited edition of the Prologue;
Script the entire graphic novel;
Attend and present at comic art festivals and the 2026 Graphic Medicine conference.

SEPTEMBER 2026 and ONWARD

Storyboard all 150-ish pages for larger project;
Layout and pencil each page;
Complete and publish the Potato Nose: 1977 graphic novel;
Archive the entire collection of journals via digitization, databases and fireproof containers etc.
Develop Potato Nose journaling and creative Processworkshops and online tools.