Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

"Sometimes a unicorn shows up in your life and makes everything better." - Dana Simpson, Phoebe and Her Unicorn cartoonist

Glitter is falling from the sky around the GoComics headquarters as we celebrate Dana Simpson's latest and greatest achievement! Dana has been named the winner of a 2016 Pacific Northwest Book Award for "Unicorn on a Roll" !

As Dana is honored with this award, she's shared her journey to success in "Me and My Unicorn: An Essay." Dana writes:

"One day I wrote a strip with a unicorn in it. It was a one-off joke, riffing on a theme that was looming large in my life at the time: knowing what counts as a reasonable expectation. Phoebe was conversing with a voice off camera about whether her ideas about her life were realistic. Final panel: pan out, and look, she's talking about this to a unicorn. I was on the verge of blowing the opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream; given that, it was a pretty hopeful comic strip.

"And then the unicorn wouldn't leave. Once she was there, she was there. She more or less announced herself as the second main character in the strip.

"Being a unicorn, she wanted attention. She needed to shine in front of an admiring audience. This dovetailed nicely with my own goals."

Quickly gaining popularity as a webcomic, Universal Uclick decided to bring the magic of Phoebe and Her Unicorn to newspapers around the country. The magical, sparkling comic strip launched in more than 100 outlets last year.

Fans can't get enough! Andrews McMeel Publishing has published two Phoebe and Her Unicorn collections (here and here), with a third and fourth hitting bookshelves this year!

We're SO proud of your dedication, talent and success, Dana!

Read Dana's full essay here. Find Simpson's book collections here, here and here. Read Phoebe and Her Unicorn from the beginning here.