Art Restart

Art Restart


Keith Knight

May 17, 2021

Keith Knight is currently busy writing the second season of “Woke,” the hit show on Hulu that he co-created and co-produces. “Woke” follows a cartoonist named Keef Knight who after a startling assault by a policeman discovers that inanimate objects start speaking to him. In brutally funny ways, these objects, as well as Keef’s human friends, open his eyes to the pressing social issues his art has yet to address.  


The show is clearly semi-autobiographical, but there’s no question that the real Keith Knight has been socially and politically aware decades longer than his TV creation. Since the early 1990s, he has been creating razor-witted comic strips that regularly tackle such issues as systemic racism and police brutality. His work, including the popular comic series “The K Chronicles,” “th(ink)” and “The Knight Life,” has been seen in newspapers and web outlets all over the country. In 2007 he received a Harvey Kurzman Award, the Oscar of the cartooning world, for “The K Chronicles”; in 2010 he received an Inkpot Award for career achievement at the San Diego Comic-Con; and in 2015 the NAACP honored him with a History Maker award in recognition of the impact of his body of work.


 


In this interview with Rob Kramer and Pier Carlo Talenti, Keith reveals how he has navigated a number of unexpected obstacles — from the shrinking of traditional newspaper outlets to the COVID-19 lockdown — to stay on his toes and shape his remarkable career.


https://kchronicles.com/


https://www.hulu.com/series/woke-034909c6-8c46-4cad-8d0d-062574a9e5f1