Jen's Bio

Jen Sorensen is the cartoonist behind “Slowpoke,” a weekly strip which appears in alternative newspapers around the country, and in such national publications as Ms. Magazine, Funny Times, and Z Magazine.  The cartoon can also be seen on Workingforchange.com and Cagle’s Cartoon Index on Slate.com, and will soon be featured on CampusProgress.org, part of the Center for American Progress.  Slowpoke made its debut as a weekly strip in 1998, and has since won two awards from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, in 2003 and 2004.  The strip is also featured in Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists, an anthology edited by Ted Rall, and in The Best Political Cartoons of the Year, 2005 Edition.

Jen grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, best known for its Amish population and delicacies such as scrapple, chow-chow, and hog maw. She went on to attend the University of Virginia, where she penned a popular daily strip entitled “Lil’ Gus” and successfully avoided taking any classes before 11a.m. except one, which happened to be worth getting up for.

In 2000, Jen won a Xeric grant to publish Slowpoke:Café Pompous, a collection of the first two years of Slowpoke strips. Her new book, Slowpoke: America Gone Bonkers, was released in late 2004.  In addition to Slowpoke, Jen also does freelance illustration for Nickelodeon Magazine and other publications. She lives with her anthropologist husband in Charlottesville,Virginia.