Moa Romanova Strinnholm, formerly Moa Johanna Strinnholm, born April 9, 1992, in

Bollstabruk Bollstabruk is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Kramfors Municipality, Västernorrland County, Sweden with 1,871 inhabitants in 2010. References

Populated places in Kramfors Municipality Ångermanland {{Västernorrland ...

Kramfors Municipality Kramfors Municipality () is a municipality in Västernorrland County, northern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town Kramfors. The rural municipality of ''Gudmundrå'' was in 1947 made one of the last administrative cities of Sweden and got ...

, Sweden, is a Swedish cartoonist, artist and illustrator. She made her debut with the autobiographical graphic novel ''Goblin Girl'' (''Alltid fucka upp''), which has been published in several languages. In 2020, she received the ''Svenska Tecknares'' ("Swedish illustrators") ''Kolla!'' award in the Narrative category for her debut novel and in 2021 she was awarded the

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

for the American edition of the book.

Biography

Moa Romanova grew up in Bollstabruk outside

Kramfors Kramfors () is a locality and the seat of Kramfors Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It had a population of 5,990 inhabitants in 2010. The town grew on the western bank of the Ångerman river in the 19th century as harvested logs ...

and played

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

as a youngster, but in her mid-teens her interest in drawing took over. She moved to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

to attend ''Designgymnasiet'' (The Design High School) in

Nacka Nacka () is the municipal seat of Nacka Municipality and part of Stockholm urban area in Sweden. The municipality's name harks back to a 16th-century industrial operation established by the Crown at Nacka farmstead where conditions for water mi ...

, but after just one semester she switched to the

aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...

program at

Härnösand Härnösand () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 25,012 inhabitants in 2023. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just ...

High School. In the fall of 2011 she had her first exhibition, a solo show at ''Konsthallen'' in Härnösand.

Art school, oil paintings and blog

In the fall of 2012, she enrolled at ''Göteborgs konstskola'' (the Gothenburg School of Art) where she studied classical painting but dropped out after two semesters. She remained in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

where she painted

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

s, freelanced as an illustrator and blogged about art, fashion and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

under the name Monkinodraw. The pen name Moa Romanova was created the same year she moved to Gothenburg when she changed one of her first names to Romanova. She is not related to the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Tsarist

Romanov The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning dynasty, imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russi ...

family.

''Comic Art School'' and ''Goblin Girl''

In 2016, she was accepted at The ''Comic Art School'' in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

and made her debut two years later with the autobiographical

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

''Goblin Girl'' (''Alltid fucka upp''). The book depicts a period of crisis in Romanova's life. It deals with

panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and Comfort, discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a Tachycardia, rapid, Arrhythmia, irregular Heart rate, heartbeat, Hyperhidrosis, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, s ...

s, friendships and artistic dreams, as well as her relationship with a famous media man who offers to be her patron. The graphic novel was published by ''Kartago förlag'' with

Nina Hemmingsson Nina Hemmingsson (born 30 November 1971) is a Swedish cartoonist. She draws foremost shorter comics, often single-panel cartoons featuring political and social criticism. An example of Hemingsson's work is ''Bäst i början'' ("Best in the Begin ...

as publisher. It was well received and appreciated for "sharp precision, wonderful character drawings" and "well-developed, intricate imagery, shifting effortlessly from graphic pastel minimalism to bright 80s colors." The book has been published in several languages under different names, including ''Paniikkiprinsessa'' in Finland, ''Fucker hele tiden op'' in Denmark, ''Identikid'' in Germany, and as ''Goblin Girl'' by the American comics publisher

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

. In 2020, she received the ''Svenska Tecknares'' ("Swedish illustrators") Kolla! award in the Narrative category for her debut novel. In 2021, she was also awarded the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material. She was also nominated for the 2020

John Leonard Prize The John Leonard Prize for Best First Book, established in 2013, is an annual literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) for authors' first books in any genre. Unlike other NBCC awards, recipients are selected by members, ...

for Literature, awarded by the National Book Critics Circle for the best debut novel published in the United States.

The Fanzine ''On tour''

Romanova's friends artist

Sarah Klang Sarah Linnea Nova Klang (born 26 August 1992) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. As of 2025, she has released five albums and performed on På spåret, and at the music festival South by Southwest. She is also a Grammis-award winner in the cate ...

and musician Åsa Söderquist, from the band ''Shitkid'', often appear as characters in her comics. She has also made

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s and

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

s for them. In 2020, she released the

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

''On tour'', about when she joined ''Shitkid's'' tour through Europe. Along with the fanzine, a collection of prints and

merch Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices cus ...

was also launched in collaboration with the fashion store Aplace.

The graphical novel ''På Glid''

In the spring of 2022, she released her second graphic novel ''På glid'' (Off the Rails), which deals with friendship, addiction, and a desire for security. Like ''On tour'', the novel takes place during a tour with the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

duo ''Shitkid'', this time in the United States. Life on tour quickly becomes destructive with alcohol, sex and drugs. The novel was well received, especially in terms of aesthetics. "It is alternately mangalike, eighties-scented and psychedelic, both grotesque and very aesthetically pleasing." wrote, for example, the reviewer in ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

''. Romanova had originally intended to follow up her debut novel with an adventure novel set along the

High Coast The High Coast () is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Ångermanland province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik. It is notable as an area for ...

. She described it as "

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudo ...

Ketamine Ketamine is a cyclohexanone-derived general anesthetic and NMDA receptor antagonist with analgesic and hallucinogenic properties, used medically for anesthesia, depression, and pain management. Ketamine exists as its S- (esketamine) a ...

." Romanova lives in Stockholm with her boyfriend Sebastian Murphy, lead singer of the band

Viagra Boys Viagra Boys is a Swedish punk band formed in Stockholm in 2015. The line-up currently consists of lead singer Sebastian Murphy alongside musicians Linus Hillborg (guitar), Elias Jungqvist (keyboards), Henrik Höckert (bass), Tor Sjödén (drums), ...

Works

* 2018 – Alltid fucka upp. Kartago. Libris länk * 2020 – On tour. Peow. * 2020 – Goblin Girl. Fantagraphics. * 2022 – På glid. Kaunitz-Olsson. Libris länk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanova, Moa Eisner Award winners Swedish graphic novelists Swedish comics artists Swedish comics writers 21st-century Swedish artists Swedish album-cover and concert-poster artists Swedish women cartoonists Swedish women illustrators Living people 1992 births Swedish female comics writers Swedish female comics artists People from Kramfors Municipality