Kayla E. is an award-winning artist from Texas. Precious Rubbish, her debut graphic memoir, was named a New York Times Editors' Choice, won an Ignatz Award, an IPPY Award, an Eisner Award nomination, a Cartoonist Studio Prize nomination, was a LAMBDA Literary finalist, and received an Honorable Mention in the International Latino Book Awards. The book also earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. The Spanish translation of Precious Rubbish (Dulce Basura) was released by Reservoir Books in 2026. The French translation is forthcoming from Delcourt. Precious Rubbish was named one of the best books of the year by The Guardian, The New York Public Library, Booklist, A.V. Club, and Literary Hub.

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In 2026, she received a Creative Capital Award for her next graphic memoir, I Will Give You Rest. Her comics appear in The New Yorker, NOW (the New Comics Anthology), Ecotone, and The Comics Journal. Precious Rubbish has been reviewed and featured in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, D Magazine, and The Comics Journal. As an undergraduate at Harvard University, she won the Albert Alcalay Prize in Visual Arts, and in 2023–2024 she held a Hodder Fellowship in Creative Writing at Princeton University.

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Her work has been exhibited by museums and galleries including the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (forthcoming), the North Carolina Museum of Art, Culture Hole, Central Server Works / Marian Cramer Projects, Marfa Invitational, and the Goss-Michael Foundation / Hignite Projects. She served as editor-in-chief of the Whiting Award–winning literary magazine Nat. Brut for nine years and co-edited a collection of Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy comic strips (Fantagraphics, 2026).

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Kayla works as Creative Director at Fantagraphics and lives in North Carolina with her wife and two dogs. You can find her at preciousrubbish.com and on Instagram @precious.rubbish. 

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For literary inquiries, Kayla is represented by Julie Stevenson at Massie McQuilkin and Altman (julie@mmqalit.com).

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For speaking engagements, keynotes, and appearances, Kayla is represented by Leslie Shipman at The Shipman Agency, Inc. (leslie@theshipmanagency.com).