Five years ago, when I started Pen Parade, I was living in Brooklyn and just starting out as a freelancer. I loved writing utensils, and earnestly hoped that becoming a pen critic would convince people to send me free pens. I received lots of praise and kind responses and eventually even some free pens. 

The newsletter was popular because a lot of people love pens. And even those who don't love pens enjoyed getting a visual, whimsical, handwritten letter in their inbox. Each one was essentially a graphic essay that always used talking about pens to talk about something bigger.

The newsletter was unpaid and incredibly time-consuming to make, and this meant it wasn’t my priority once I started to get more paid work. A year would go by between installments, and any time someone would talk about Pen Parade in the past tense, I would get defensive and say “NO, IT’S STILL ACTIVE. IT’S JUST YEARLY!”
 

I was recently interviewed in Mason Currey’s newsletter. In his introduction, he wrote: 

“I first became aware of Bateman’s work in 2014 through her short-lived but extremely charming Pen Parade newsletter.”

I read those words, and for the first time, didn’t feel the urge to claim that Pen Parade still exists. Short lived but extremely charming. I can live with that. 

In the years I haven’t been drawing installments of Pen Parade, I have been busy making the art that feels most urgent to me. My first book, Brave New Work, was published by MoMA in 2016. My graphic novel What To Do When I’m Gone came out in 2018. My next book, Directions, based on this series, will come out in 2021. I make illustrations and animations for a mental health nonprofit, and run an online shop.

As I formally bid adieu to Pen Parade, I am going to evolve this newsletter into what I need right now: a way to notify people about pet portraits, books, and my favorite pens in a concise way that doesn’t involve my scanner. If you enjoyed Pen Parade, I do think you’ll like my other work, too. If not, feel free to unsubscribe. Thanks for reading. <3
 

Hallie