Jan Eliot

Before becoming a full-time cartoonist, Jan worked as a waitress, car salesperson, bookmobile driver, advertising copywriter, graphic designer, and greeting card writer. In her cartoonist career, she initially worked as a graphic designer in the daytime, while doing cartoons at night. Some independent papers published her work, and after 16 years, she achieved syndication,[1] and became a full-time cartoonist.[2] Prior to Eliot's syndication, she was mentored by cartoonist Lynn Johnston, who proofed the cartoon strips.[1]

She chose the name Eliot after her divorce, in honor of George Eliot.[3] She lives in Eugene, Oregon[4] and is married to Ted Lay.[2]

Eliot wrote and illustrated the comic strip Stone Soup. She created a previous strip known as Patience and Sarah, which enjoyed a run of five years in 10 publications.

Her next comic strip was called Sister City. This weekly strip appeared in the Eugene, Oregon, The Register-Guard for five years before the name was changed to Stone Soup in November 1995, when it became nationally syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick. Stone Soup is syndicated to more than 300 newspapers, mostly in America but also across the world.[2]

The strip's characters, widowed single mom Val and her children Alix and Holly, were based on Eliot's life and the lives of those around her,[5] but she also considers each character a reflection of herself.[1] Val's sister, Joan is also a working mom, who lives across the fence from her. Other characters include Joan's husband, Wally and Val's new husband, Phil.[6]

Stone Soup featured as a daily strip for 20 years[7] until October 2015, when Eliot decided she no longer wanted to draw a daily comic, to devote more time to travel, socialize and focus on other creative projects.[8] She continued to create a Sunday cartoon strip.

After reader outcry at the family-oriented strip's cessation in the Montreal Gazette,[9] the weekend version of Stone Soup was reintroduced to the Montreal Gazette in January 2016.[5]

On June 15, 2020, she announced that she was retiring.[10] The last Stone Soup strip was published on July 26, 2020.[11]

In addition to eleven Stone Soup compilations, Eliot's work has appeared in:

• Women's Glibber: State-of-the-Art Women's Humor, edited by Roz Warren. (1992) ISBN 0-89594-548-7
• Mothers! Cartoons by Women, edited by Roz Warren. (1993) ISBN 0-89594-611-4
• What Is This Thing Called Sex? Cartoons by Women, edited by Roz Warren. (1993) ISBN 0-89594-631-9
• Off Road Parenting: Practical Solutions for Difficult Behavior, by Caesar Pacifici, Patricia Chamberlain, Lee White, and Jan Eliot. (2002) ISBN 1-892194-25-2

2011 Timely and Timeless, Library of Congress (September 2011)[12]

2016 Comic City, USA, Oregon Historical Society (December 2016 - January 2017)[13]

2010 Eugene Arts and Letters award[14][15]

• Jan Eliot bio at Universal Press Syndicate