Bio
Editorial Cartoonist Ted Rall, 60, synthesizes the multiple-panel dialogue-focused format of newspaper comics with political cartoons, which traditionally have been single-panel metaphors. Rall first was published in alternative-weekly newspapers but has since appeared in a variety of daily newspapers, magazines and websites around the world. His politics lean left, frequently urging the Democratic Party to return to its progressive roots.
Raised in the suburbs outside Dayton, Ohio, Rall left Dayton in order to attend Columbia University in New York, where he lives now.
Rall’s work was signed for syndication by the now-defunct San Francisco Chronicle Features in 1991. His cartoons have been distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication since 1996.
Rall’s cartoons have appeared in hundreds of publications including Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek, Esquire, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and smaller papers like the Des Moines Register and Dayton Daily News. He is one of the most widely-syndicated U.S. political cartoonists, as well as a nationally-syndicated opinion columnist for Creators Syndicate and essays for The Wall Street Journal.
Rall is also a graphic novelist, having won awards for books of graphic journalism like “To Afghanistan and Back,” the result of his on-the-ground cartoons and essays filed from the front lines of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 as an unembedded reporter living with local families, and his series of cartoon biographies including “Snowden” and “Bernie,” about the NSA whistleblower and presidential candidate. Both “Snowden” and “Bernie” were New York Times Bestsellers.
As an editor, Rall has worked to elevate and promote cartooning. He edited the three-volume “Attitude” book anthology, which defined the “alternative” genre of political cartooning. He edited round-ups of comics for sites like The Daily Beast and Forbes.com. As Editor of Acquisitions and Development for United Media, Rall worked to diversify daily comics, signing more women and people of color into syndication than any other syndicate executive.
Rall is the cartoonist for the news website WhoWhatWhy.org.
Rall’s most recent book is a graphic novel, “The Stringer.”
September 11-14, 2025
