Skip to main content
Nicole and Jessica posing alongside the event time and date
PastAuthor EventBook ReleaseComicsGraphic NovelsSelf-HelpFree

This event has passed

Emotional Support Animals: Anonymous Fuzzball Comics + Workbook by Nicole Georges

Featured Book

Emotional Support Animals with cartoonish animals on chairs at a therapy session

Emotional Support Animals: Anonymous Fuzzball Comics + Workbook

Emotional Support Animals is a collection of comics and worksheets featuring adorable and irresistible emotional support animals offering words of compassion and wisdom, delivering smiles along with experience, strength, and hope. What if your therapist was a cardigan-wearing walrus sipping a cup of coffee? Emotional Support Animals answers this question in a series of sweet comics and engaging worksheets. Nicole Georges presents small doses of therapy in the form of humorous illustrations about serious subjects. Picture a pug assuring you that it's not cruel to say no or hold a boundary, or a crocodile reminding you that when you take care of yourself, you have more capacity to give. Inspired by Nicole’s experiences with grief and healing, her Anonymous Fuzzball comics touch on themes of self-worth, boundaries, and balance. Using quirky animals as her subjects, she proves that hard truths are easier to digest in an adorable package. Affirmations include: "Just because someone's having a big reaction doesn't mean I did anything wrong." "You're not going to mess up something that's meant for you." "As I love myself more, I demand less of others." "What people say is just information. You don't have to take it personally." "I don't need to achieve anything to be lovable."

This book will be available for purchase at the event.

About This Event

We are thrilled to host Nicole Georges for an event celebrating the release of Emotional Support Animals: Anonymous Fuzzball Comics + Workbook. For this event, Nicole will be joined in conversation by Jessica Hopper.

This event will include a conversation and a short comics-drawing workshop. No supplies needed!

Emotional Support Animals is a collection of comics and worksheets featuring adorable and irresistible emotional support animals offering words of compassion and wisdom, delivering smiles along with experience, strength, and hope.

What if your therapist was a cardigan-wearing walrus sipping a cup of coffee? Emotional Support Animals answers this question in a series of sweet comics and engaging worksheets. Nicole Georges presents small doses of therapy in the form of humorous illustrations about serious subjects. Picture a pug assuring you that it's not cruel to say no or hold a boundary, or a crocodile reminding you that when you take care of yourself, you have more capacity to give. Inspired by Nicole’s experiences with grief and healing, her Anonymous Fuzzball comics touch on themes of self-worth, boundaries, and balance. Using quirky animals as her subjects, she proves that hard truths are easier to digest in an adorable package.

Affirmations include:

"Just because someone's having a big reaction doesn't mean I did anything wrong."
"You're not going to mess up something that's meant for you."
"As I love myself more, I demand less of others."
"What people say is just information. You don't have to take it personally."
"I don't need to achieve anything to be lovable."

Featured Author

Nicole J. Georges

Nicole is an award-winning graphic novelist, podcaster & professor from Portland, OR. She is the author of the graphic memoirs Calling Dr. Laura, and Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home. Her podcast with Oregon Public Broadcasting, Relative Fiction, won an Edward R. Murrow Award. Nicole has been drawing emotional support animal illustrations and leading comics-based self-care and grief workshops worldwide since 2020.

In Conversation With

Jessica Hopper

is the author of the books The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic and Night Moves. Her writing has appeared in GQ, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Elle, and Bookforum, among other outlets. A long time contributor to the Chicago Reader, she has been a columnist for the Village Voice and Chicago Tribune, the music consultant for This American Life, the editorial director for MTV News, and a senior editor at Pitchfork and Rookie. Her essays have appeared in several editions of Best Music Writing, and she currently serves as series editor of the American Music Series at the University of Texas Press.

About the Venue

Women & Children First on top of red brick building with purple awnings.

Women & Children First

Women & Children First believes in the transformative power of literature. As intersectional trans-inclusive feminists, we believe books are tools for liberation. Since 1979, we have celebrated and amplified underrepresented voices.

Visit store page

More at Women & Children First

Sep17
serena chopra event image
Author EventMemoirAndersonville

A Catalog Of Future Mercies by Serena Chopra

7:00 PM • Thursday, September 17, 2026Women & Children FirstFree

Please join us on Thursday, September 17th to celebrate the poetry collection A Catalog of Future Mercies by Serena Chopra. The author will be joined by Aditi Machado and Divya Victor. Please register for this free event. Advance registration is appreciated. In ghost stories and family history, this lyrical memoir explores mercy as resistance to generational violence.

Sep18
Graphic for event with Kristen Vale on 9/18/26
Author EventRomanceAndersonville

A Spell of Heart & Havoc by Kristen Vale

7:00 PM • Friday, September 18, 2026Women & Children FirstFree

We are excited to host local author Kristen Vale for a launch event celebrating the release of A Spell of Heart & Havoc ! For this event, Kristen will be joined in conversation by Danielle Jackson . The thief, the noblewoman, and the secrets they hide. Maerryl Kirim, a surly half-dwarf with the world on her shoulders, will do anything to save her deathly ill brother. Joining a guild of thieves to gather enough coin for his cure, she agrees to infiltrate a noble family. But acting as bodyguard for their haughty, spoiled daughter is no walk in the enchanted forest. Dove Wistrallo yearns for independence, not a babysitter. As the uncouth Maerryl loves to remind her, she lives a charmed life. . . though few know of the risky magical ability that Dove hides. Spending every moment together is infuriating—at first. But before long, the friction between the rogue and the lady becomes a spark they can’t ignore. Yet the clock is ticking for Maerryl to secure the family’s riches. Does their growing love stand a chance against Maerryl’s ruse, Dove’s secrets, and a den of thieves? Kristen Vale writes queer cozy fantasy romcoms filled with sweetness & spice. When not reading or writing, she can usually be found thrifting, playing D&D, or staring lovingly at trees. She lives in Chicago with her partner and her frenemy black cat, Opal. Danielle Jackson is an author, avid reader, lackluster-yet-mighty crafter, and accomplished TV binge-watcher. Danielle has had the unique experience of working on almost every side of the book business—as a publicist at a publisher, a managing editor of a book review website, a pop culture podcast co-host, an events coordinator at an independent bookstore, and now, an author. When she’s not writing, Danielle moderates and participates on industry panels and hosts a book club. Danielle lives in Chicagoland with her husband and daughters. Follow her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky, @DJacksonBooks. Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged for this event. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com .