Aminder Dhaliwal’s Featured Book

Cyclopedia Exotica

“The characters in Dhaliwal’s stories sparkle. They’re tenderly rendered and their problems are real…The struggle of the cyclops unfolds in metaphors for race, sexuality, gender, and disability. Tangling with ideas about fetishization, interracial relationships, passing, and representation.” — Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House

Following the critical and popular success of Woman World — the hit Instagram comic which appeared on 25 best of lists — Aminder Dhaliwal returns with Cyclopedia Exotica. Also serialized on instagram to her 250,000 followers, this graphic novel showcases Dhaliwal’s quick wit and astute socio-cultural criticism.

In Cyclopedia Exotica, doctor’s office waiting rooms, commercials, dog parks, and dating app screenshots capture the experiences and interior lives of the cyclops community; a largely immigrant population displaying physical differences from the majority. Whether they’re artists, parents, or yoga students, the cyclops have it tough: they face microaggressions and overt xenophobia on a daily basis. However, they are bent on finding love, cultivating community, and navigating life alongside the two-eyed majority with patience and the occasional bout of rage.

Through this parallel universe, Dhaliwal comments on race, difference, beauty, and belonging, touching on all of these issues with her distinctive deadpan humour steeped in millennial references. Cyclopedia Exotica is a triumph of hilarious candor.

Buy the Book:
Owl’s Nest Books Shelf Life Books |  Indigo | Massy Books (BC)

Borrow the Book from the Library:
Calgary Public Library

Aminder Dhaliwal’s Other Book

Woman World

Best of 2018 lists from Nylon, the New York Public Library, Boing Boing, and The Cut!

With her startling humor, it’s no surprise that Aminder Dhaliwal’s web comic Woman World has a devoted audience of more than 150,000 readers, updated biweekly with each installment earning an average of 25,000 likes. Now, readers everywhere will delight in the print edition as Dhaliwal seamlessly incorporates feminist philosophical concerns into a series of perfectly-paced strips that skewer perceived notions of femininity and contemporary cultural icons. D+Q’s edition of Woman World will include new and previously unpublished material.

When a birth defect wipes out the planet’s entire population of men, Woman World rises out of society’s ashes. Dhaliwal’s infectiously funny Instagram comic follows the rebuilding process, tracking a group of women who have rallied together under the flag of “Beyonce’s Thighs”. Only Grandma remembers the distant past, a civilization of Segway-riding mall cops, Blockbuster movie rental shops, and “That’s What She Said” jokes. For the most part, Woman World’s residents are focused on their struggles with unrequited love and anxiety, not to mention that whole “survival of humanity” thing.

Woman World is an uproarious and insightful graphic novel from a very talented and funny new voice.

Buy the Book:
Owl’s Nest Books Shelf Life Books

Borrow the Book from the Library:
Calgary Public Library