Ayun Halliday is an American writer and actor. She is best known as the author and illustrator (or, as Halliday herself terms it, "the chief primatologist") of the long-running

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

''The East Village Inky''. The

got its name from Halliday's living in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

's East Village, and "Inky" being the nickname of her then-infant daughter India. Her first

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 ...

, ''Peanut'', was published in December 2012 and was positively reviewed by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Early life

Halliday was born in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. She attended

Park Tudor School Park Tudor School is a coeducational independent college preparatory day school founded in 1902. It offers programs from junior kindergarten through high school. It is located in the Meridian Hills neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. A m ...

and

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, where she obtained a degree in theater performance. She is also a licensed massage therapist, who completed her training at the Chicago School of Massage Therapy. After graduating, she joined the

Neo-Futurists The Neo-Futurists are an experimental theater troupe founded by Greg Allen in 1988, based on an aesthetics of honesty, speed and brevity. Neo-Futurist theatre was inspired in part by the Italian Futurist movement from the early 20th century. Ori ...

, an experimental theater troupe in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It was during her tenure with the troupe that she met her husband, playwright

Greg Kotis Greg Kotis (born 1965/1966) is an American playwright, best known for writing the book and co-writing the lyrics for the musical ''Urinetown''. Biography Career Kotis studied political science at the University of Chicago, where he was a memb ...

Personal life

She lives in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. She and Kotis have two children: India (born 1997) and Milo (born 2000). Halliday and Kotis are co-founders of Theater of the Apes. Halliday created and hosts ''Necromancers of the Public Domain'', a monthly performance series in New York City, wherein a dusty book from the New York Society Library is turned in a low budget variety show.

Published books

*''The Big Rumpus'' (published in the UK as ''Mama Lama Ding Dong'') (2002) *''No Touch Monkey! And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late'' (2003) *''Job Hopper'' (2005) *''Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste'' (2006) *''Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo'' (2009) *''The Zinester's Guide to NYC'' (2010) *''Peanut'' (2012) *''Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto (2022)'' *''Creative, Not Famous Activity Book (2023)''

Plays

*''Farang (1992)'' *''Bagel: Anatomy as Simile (1994)'' *''

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind ''Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes'' (Too Much Light or TML) was the longest running show in the history of theater in Chicago and was the only open-run Off-Off-Broadway show in New York. The show was originally perf ...

(1989-1998)'' *''The Mermaid's Legs'' (2014) *''Fawnbook'' (2015) *''Zamboni Godot (2017)'' *''Nurse! (2018)''

References

External links

Official websiteDirty Sugar Cookies food blogWhogoslavia? travel blog2006 Interview with AyunTheater of the Apes websiteWhy Mommy Drinks podcast
Ayun Halliday: What the Freakin' Fudge? {{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Ayun Living people American women bloggers American bloggers American memoirists American humorists American children's writers Writers from Indianapolis 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1965 births 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers American women memoirists American women humorists People from East Harlem People from the East Village, Manhattan Writers from Manhattan Actresses from Manhattan