Toon Talk: The Very Fine Clock

The Cartoon Art Museum continues its Centennial Salute to Edward Gorey with a lively discussion about Edward Gorey’s collaboration with Muriel Spark for the children’s book, The Very Fine Clock with local artists Briana Loewinsohn, MariNaomi, and Amy Martin. A children’s classic from two literary heavyweights finally brought back into print by Transit Children’s Editions. Guest speakers include graphic novelists Brian Loewinsohn (Emphemera, Raised by Ghosts), MariNaomi (I Thought You Loved Me), and cartoonist Amy Martin for a conversation about Muriel Spark and Edward Gorey’s enduring legacy and how they influenced their work and others. Moderated by Ashley Nelson Levy and Adam Levy, publishers of The Very Fine Clock. About The Very Fine Clock Written by Muriel Spark and Illustrated by Edward Gorey Two stars team up—Muriel Spark and Edward Gorey—to bring the charming tale of Ticky the clock to life in this children’s classic. Once there was a very fine clock named Ticky, who lived with Professor Horace John Morris and kept perfect time. Each night, at fourteen minutes past ten, his time was used to set the rest of the clocks in the house. When the professor’s friends suggest that Ticky be made a professor, too, he explains what really happens during the quiet hours of the day when the professor is out, when all the rooms have been cleaned and dusted, and the clocks talk to one another and tell the stories of their lives. No artist is better suited to capture Ticky’s quiet stateliness and grace than Edward Gorey, who brings this tale masterfully to life through his characteristic pen and ink drawings. Full of wit, wisdom, and affairs of the heart, The Very Fine Clock is a very fine picture book. Ages 4+ | Hardcover | 32 pages | ISBN: 9798893380262 On sale: October 14, 2025 (Advance copies available for this event.) About our Guest Speakers Briana Loewinsohn Briana Loewinsohn is an American cartoonist. She is the author of the acclaimed graphic memoir Ephemera, published by Fantagraphics in 2023. It was listed as one of the American Library Association's top graphic novels of 2023 and was awarded the 2023 Foreword Indies Editors Prize for non-fiction. Her new YA book, Raised By Ghosts, came out in February 2025, also with Fantagraphics. It was nominated for a Harvey Award. Loewinsohn lives in Oakland, CA with her husband, two kids, and a cat named Gary. MariNaomi MariNaomi (they/them) is the author and illustrator of the SPACE Award-winning graphic memoir Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22, Eisner-nominated Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories, Turning Japanese, I Thought YOU Hated ME, the Life on Earth trilogy, Dirty Produce, and I Thought You Loved Me. Their work has appeared in approximately 100 print publications and has been featured on The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Rumpus, LA Review of Books, Midnight Breakfast, SF Examiner, and BuzzFeed, as well as a number of local and international museums. Founder of Cartoonists of Color Database, the Queer Cartoonists Database, and the Disabled Cartoonists Database and served as California Chapter Leader of Authors Against Book Bans, their next graphic novel is forthcoming with Little Brown Ink, a collaboration with cartoonist Trung Le Nguyen. Amy Martin Amy Martin (she/her) is a cartoonist, civic techie, and former children's librarian. Her comics have appeared in Mutha Magazine and in many self-published volumes. Originally from Chicago, she lives with her family in Oakland, CA. About Transit Books Transit Books is an independent publisher of international and American literature, based in Berkeley. Founded in 2015, Transit Books publishes a carefully curated list of award-winning literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, essay, and literature for children. Transit authors have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, a National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN Translation Prize, and have been finalists for the National Book Award, the International Booker Prize, the National Translation Award, and more. Adam Levy and Ashley Nelson Levy founded Transit Books in 2015, and serve as co-publishers. Adam is also a translator from the Hungarian, and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to translate Gábor Schein’s The Book of Mordechai. Ashley is the author of the novel, Immediate Family, and her nonfiction is forthcoming in Notes to New Mothers.

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