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Sima Elizabeth Shefrin played as a toddler in the galleries of Italy, and has been creating art ever since. Born in Ottawa in 1949, partly raised in Rome, she came to B.C. in 1971. She has primarily worked as a fabric artist and a book illustrator, describing herself as someone who is stitching for social change. Her international community art project, The Middle East Peace Quilt, toured North America for ten years.
Shefrin's self-illustrated The Embroidered Cancer Comic (2016) recounts her daily life with her husband Bob Bossin after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011.
"Every time something made us laugh," she says, "one of us would say, 'That goes in the comic.' As it turns out, a lot of the jokes in the comic are about sex. This is because Bob's surgery included cutting the erectile nerves. Little of the cancer literature talks about this from the partner's point of view, or about its effect on the relationship. Yet that loss became a part of our daily lives."
Having been a fabric artist for forty-four years, Shefrin stitched the sixty embroidered line drawings that appear in the book, making her's one of the most unusual manuscripts in B.C. literary history. Intended for adult readers, The Embroidered Cancer Comic is distributed in Canada through UBC Press.
Shortlisted for the Christie Harris Prize for Abby's Birds (Tradewind), Sima Elizabeth Shefrin has also provided the charming illustrations for former primary school principal Vi Hughes' Once Upon a Bathtime (Tradewind $17.95).
With 10 colour plates by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, Latkes (Nick Books, 2007) is an illustrated work of adult fiction by folk music icon Bob Bossin, co-founder of Stringband. The text weaves together a revisionist telling of a 16th century Jewish folk tale and a 20th century conflict between an "Old country" father and his Canadian son.
These books led her to illustrate Jane Yolen's folktales and Heidi Stemple's recipes for their co-authored Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts (Tradewind, 2013).
In 2023, Shefrin self-published a collection of comics that is a graphic account of her life with husband Bob Bossin through the COVID-19 years. Book design by Gwen Frankton.
Sima Elizabeth Shefrin lives with her husband on Gabriola Island.
BOOKS
Couches Get Lonely Too (Self-published, 2023) $26
The Embroidered Cancer Comic (London, England: Singing Dragon, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016) $13.95 9781848192898
Co-author and Illustrator: Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts (Tradewind, 2013)
Illustrator: Once Upon a Bathtime (Tradewind, 2010) $17.95 978-1-896580-54-8. Ages 3 - 6
Illustrator: Latkes (Nick Books, 2007)
Illustrator: Abby's Birds (Tradewind, 1999)
[BCBW 2016] "Illustration"
Shefrin's self-illustrated The Embroidered Cancer Comic (2016) recounts her daily life with her husband Bob Bossin after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011.
"Every time something made us laugh," she says, "one of us would say, 'That goes in the comic.' As it turns out, a lot of the jokes in the comic are about sex. This is because Bob's surgery included cutting the erectile nerves. Little of the cancer literature talks about this from the partner's point of view, or about its effect on the relationship. Yet that loss became a part of our daily lives."
Having been a fabric artist for forty-four years, Shefrin stitched the sixty embroidered line drawings that appear in the book, making her's one of the most unusual manuscripts in B.C. literary history. Intended for adult readers, The Embroidered Cancer Comic is distributed in Canada through UBC Press.
Shortlisted for the Christie Harris Prize for Abby's Birds (Tradewind), Sima Elizabeth Shefrin has also provided the charming illustrations for former primary school principal Vi Hughes' Once Upon a Bathtime (Tradewind $17.95).
With 10 colour plates by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, Latkes (Nick Books, 2007) is an illustrated work of adult fiction by folk music icon Bob Bossin, co-founder of Stringband. The text weaves together a revisionist telling of a 16th century Jewish folk tale and a 20th century conflict between an "Old country" father and his Canadian son.
These books led her to illustrate Jane Yolen's folktales and Heidi Stemple's recipes for their co-authored Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts (Tradewind, 2013).
In 2023, Shefrin self-published a collection of comics that is a graphic account of her life with husband Bob Bossin through the COVID-19 years. Book design by Gwen Frankton.
Sima Elizabeth Shefrin lives with her husband on Gabriola Island.
BOOKS
Couches Get Lonely Too (Self-published, 2023) $26
The Embroidered Cancer Comic (London, England: Singing Dragon, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016) $13.95 9781848192898
Co-author and Illustrator: Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts (Tradewind, 2013)
Illustrator: Once Upon a Bathtime (Tradewind, 2010) $17.95 978-1-896580-54-8. Ages 3 - 6
Illustrator: Latkes (Nick Books, 2007)
Illustrator: Abby's Birds (Tradewind, 1999)
[BCBW 2016] "Illustration"
