Keith Knight, the prolific creator of (th)ink, The Knight Life (which runs Sundays in the Post) and The K Chronicles, who’s also a 2011 Glyph and 2010 Inkpot award winner will be at the Small Press Expo again this year. Keith (or Keef as his friends call him) has been a regular attendee for years at SPX, self-syndicating and self-publishing his cartoons, which means that I have always sought out his newest collection.
Washington City Paper: What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?
Keith Knight: Newspaper, magazine and web cartoons.
WCP: What work are you best-known for?
KK: My long-time weekly auto-bio strip, The K Chronicles. And my syndicated daily, The Knight Life.
WCP: How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?
KK: Traditional pen and ink. But I clean it up and color it with photoshop.
WCP: Can you tell us a little about your books that you’ll have with you at SPX?
KK: I have a new collection of my single panel political strips called Too Small To Fail: Another (th)ink anthology.
WCP: Since you’ve attended the Small Press Expo in the past—-do you have any thoughts about your experience?
KK: It’s my favorite small press event. It’s the one time of year I get to see a lot of east coast cartoonists.
WCP: What are you looking forward to buying or seeing or doing for this year’s event? Or who do you want to see, to catch up on old times, or to have a fanboy/girl experience?
KK: Roz Chast, Johnny Ryan, Kate Beaton, Chester Brown… Looking forward to saying hello.
WCP: What’s your favorite thing about the D.C. area? Least favorite?
KK: The most fascinating thing to see is the combination of old men and their young female assistants running around the D.C. streets. Once you see that, you start to understand why these politicians behave the way they do.
WCP: What monument or museum do you like or wish to visit when you’re in town?
KK: MLK, all the way!
WCP: What do you think will be the future of your field?
KK: The future will be funny.
The Small Press Expo takes place 11 am–7 p.m. Sept. 10 and noon–6 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, Bethesda. $10-$15. spxpo.com.