Roz Chast has loved to draw cartoons since she was a child growing up in Brooklyn. She attended Rhode Island School of Design, and received her BFA in graphic design and painting in 1977. Shortly after graduating, however, she returned to making cartoons, and within two years joined "The New Yorker," where she has been published continually since.
A brilliant interpreter of the everyday, Chast’s cartoons depict neuroses, hilarity, angst and domesticity. In addition to her cartoons, Chast has incorporated her cast of recurring characters into other media , from pysanka eggs to hooked rugs.
Chast’s most recent cartoon collection is a comprehensive compilation of her favorite cartoons called "Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and Health-Inspected Cartoons of Roz Chast, 1978-2006." She also illustrated "The Alphabet from A to Y, with Bonus Letter, Z," the best-selling children's book by Steve Martin. In May of 2014, Bloomsbury will publish, "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?", a memoir about her parents' final years.
She has contributed to many humor collections, lectured widely, and received several prestigious awards, including honorary doctorates from Dartmouth College (2011), Lesley University/Art Institute of Boston (2010), and Pratt Institute (1998). In 2012 she was awarded the NYC Literary Honor in Humor by Mayor Bloomberg and in 2013 was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The artist lives in Connecticut with her family and two parrots.