Telnaes, Ann (1960 - )
Swedish-American editorial cartoonist
Ann Telnaes is an American animator and editorial cartoonist, known for her biting political cartoons. In 2001, Ann Telnaes became the second female cartoonist, after Signe Wilkinson, to receive a Pulitzer Prize, namely the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning and is the only female three-time Pulitzer Prize winner. Between 2000 and 2005, Telnaes was one of six female cartoonists who contributed to the socially conscious and feminist gag comic Six Chix.
Telnaes was president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists during 2016–2017. She is a member of the advisory board of the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation that is based in Geneva and a former member of the board of directors of Cartoonists Rights Network International.
Before becoming an editorial cartoonist, she worked in the animation field and also as a show designer for Walt Disney Imagineering. She contributed to such films as The Brave Little Toaster and The Chipmunk Adventure. In 1993 she relocated to Washington, D.C. to be closer to the epicenter of American (and global) politics.
Telnaes' freelance cartoons were soon syndicated by North American/King Features and later Tribune Media Services. They have run in The Austin American-Statesman, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Newsday and, from 2008 to 2025, The Washington Post. Outside of the USA, her cartoons have appeared in The Courrier International and Le Monde. For the non-profit online news service Women's eNews, she has made a weekly drawing, which she dubs her "commentoons".
In January 2025, Telnaes resigned from The Washington Post after her cartoon lampooning powerful media and technology billionaires and a corporation mascot performing obeisance before president-elect Donald Trump was rejected by opinions editor David Shipley. Included in the sketch were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Post owner Jeff Bezos, Meta/Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg offering bags of money, Los Angeles Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong, and a prostrate Disney mascot Mickey Mouse (representing Disney subsidiary ABC News). Shipley stated that his editorial decision was based on the piece's redundancy with other content that had recently been published by or been approved for publication in the Post. His refusal to publish the cartoon was decried by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists as "craven censorship" and "political cowardice".
To learn about Ann Telnaes powerful career in political cartooning, please follow the link https://anntelnaes.substack.com/to her official website.
