photo: Chloe Aftel

Ariel Schrag was born in Berkeley, California in 1979. She is the author of the autobiographical graphic novels Awkward, Definition, Potential, and Likewise, which chronicle her four years at Berkeley High School. The books are published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.

Potential, which was nominated for an Eisner Award, is currently being developed into a major motion picture by Killer Films (Boys Don't Cry, Far From Heaven, Mildred Pierce). Schrag wrote the screenplay adaptation.

Schrag is currently a writer for the HBO series How To Make It In America. She was also a writer for Seasons Three and Four of the hit Showtime series, The L Word.

Schrag is the editor of and a contributor to Stuck in the Middle - 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age, an anthology of comics about middle school, published by Viking. Stuck in the Middle was selected for New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age 2008.

Schrag co-writes the online comic Ariel and Kevin Invade Everything with the comedian and writer Kevin Seccia. The comic recounts the adventures of two best friends in Los Angeles and is updated at invadeeverything.com

Schrag's illustrations and comics have appeared in publications such as The San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York, The Village Voice, Juxtapoz, and Paper. Her original art has appeared in museums and galleries across the United States as well as in Austria, Spain, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Schrag does live performances of her comics across the country and abroad. The show includes projected slides of comic panels with Schrag reading all the voices and a musical soundtrack. In 2009 she toured the U.S. and Canada with the writers performance group Sister Spit.

Schrag is the subject of the short documentary film Confession: A Film About Ariel Schrag by director/producer Sharon Barnes. Confession played on PBS and Channel 4 in England and won the Audience Award at New York New Festival.

Schrag graduated from Columbia University in 2003 with a degree in English Literature. In 2004 she began teaching the course Graphic Novel Workshop in the writing department at The New School. She has also taught classes at Brown University, New York University, Kala Art Institute, The Contemporary Jewish Museum and Intersection for the Arts.

She divides her time between Los Angeles and New York.