Newsday, the daily newspaper of Long Island and New York has scored a huge coup in scooping up Wilton resident Matt Davies as their new editorial cartoonist. Their gain, though, is Wilton’s loss, as the professional move requires Davis and his wife, Lucy, to move their family from Wilton to Long Island.
The Davises are high school sweethearts who grew up in Westport (Matt, after relocating to CT from England as a teenager). Their three children all were students in Wilton schools and they’ve loved living here. And we’ve loved getting to know them as friends.
But the opportunity to draw for such a major paper is one that’s too important for Davies to pass up. He’s well regarded in his field, having won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004, and he was the first Herblock Prize winner as well, winning it that same year. His editorial cartoons have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek, Time, and Mad. Most recently he drew for Tribune Media Services and The Hearst Newspaper Group.
Last year, he also forayed into the world of children’s book publishing, notably with the wildly successful Ben Rides On. I wrote a profile of Davies when he published the book:
“It tells the story of Ben, a scrappy third-grader whose beloved bike lets him fly through the air with ease and surmount every obstacle in his way—almost every challenge, that is, save those from the hulking neighborhood bully, Adrian Underbite. Being quite the nogoodnik, Underbite steals Ben’s treasured two-wheeler, but thankfully karma has good timing, and the villainous Adrian crashes and finds himself in a bit of a predicament. You guessed it, the only person who can save him is Ben, who then has to make his own ethical choice about simply taking back what’s his, or doing what he can to rescue his tormentor.”
The book scored great reviews from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. Matt has the follow-up book coming out in the fall, called Ben Draws Trouble.
As mutual observers of media, politics and popular culture, he and I had many conversations about the industry dip in respect for editorial cartooning. So knowing that he’s going to an institution that respects what he does is consolation for knowing that family friends will be leaving Wilton. If you want to read what his new editor at Newsday wrote about him, you can find that here.
We’re so sad to see the Davises go, but can’t wait to hear about all the waves Matt will make on the broader, more visible platform he now has. Rock the boat and tell them like it is, Matt. And come back to visit, will you?
Photo credit: Bruce Plotkin