Snow Emergency Route
an adoptee graphic memoir
2025
Snow Emergency Route made its debut in a very limited artist-produced edition at The Small Press Expo 2025!
Elevator pitch: Colorful midcentury coming-of-age misadventures are folded into the ticking clock of terminal cancer in this tragicomic memoir. After moving back to the neighborhood of her youth with two cats and a helpful fiancé in tow, Lynn Von Sien navigates her elderly mother’s decline. A deep dive into a complex adoptive mother/daughter relationship, teeming with wisdom and emotional truth.
But what I really want you to know, is that this book contains: Martinis, punching machines, shoplifting, weed, incense, cancer, kitties, walk-taking, outdoor-creaturing, snow, more snow, skiing and trudging though it, a frosty mom, grief, first kisses, hospital pee bags, grudges, Bowie, searching the faces of strangers, various traumatic experiences, Minnehaha Creek, morphine, musical sarcasm, lost dogs, trapped birds, alley lights, gaslighting, a joyful reunion, a sad goodbye, adoptee truth telling, the story of Mom and I.
Swing or Symphony - an adoptee graphic memoir
Work in progress
Swing or Symphony is a tragicomic graphic memoir about caregiving my terminally ill adoptive father. An Italian-American and great lover of music, he lived to be 99. I unpack our history in flashbacks, including visits to his hometown of Newark, New Jersey. This work is another deep dive into how my adoption affected me psychologically. Disconnecting and connecting with my dad continually over time was part of that.
The rough first draft is complete at 418 pages, thanks to the Minnesota State Arts Board grant that supported this work. I plan to start the editing and coloring work in 2026.
Lynn Von Sien is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
