Anders Brekhus Nilsen (he/him) is the artist and author of ten books including Big Questions, The End, Poetry is Useless and Tongues. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Poetry Magazine, Kramer's Ergot, McSweeney’s, The New Yorker and elsewhere. His comics have been translated widely overseas and his painting and drawing have been exhibited internationally. Nilsen's work has received five Ignatz awards as well as the Lynd Ward Prize for the Graphic Novel. Big Questions was a New York Times Notable Book and both it and The End were shortlisted for the Grand Prix at the Festival Internationale de la Bande Desineé in Angouleme, France. Nilsen was made a Guggenheim Fellow in 2026.

After growing up splitting time between Minneapolis and the mountains of northern New Hampshire, Nilsen studied art in New Mexico, and did a year of graduate study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Nilsen left the school to pursue comics on his own and lived on the west side of Chicago for over a decade, working for a while as both cook and curator at the James Beard-recognized Lula Cafe in Logan Square. He has been a regular participant and occasional organizer of the French experimental collaborative comics residency Pierre Feuille Ciseaux, and became a Civitella Ranieri fellow in 2024. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two cats.

Pronunciation guide:

Anders (AHN-ders - rhymes with ‘wanders’)

Brekhus (BREH-koos)

Nilsen (NIL-sen - rhymes with ‘Wilson’)

 

Selected Press