John Porcellino (King Cat) calls Not My Small Diary “One of the most important comic-zines in history.”
Delaine started creating autobiographical comics under the name My Small Diary in 1993. Not My Small Diary, a compilation of other small press artists’ auto-bio comics, edited by Delaine, was first released in 1996 as an offshoot of MSD. Still going strong, these comic-zines have attracted a diverse, talented contributor base including such artists as Raina Telgemeier, Joe Decie, Box Brown, Lucy Knisley, Nicole Georges, John Porcellino, Noah Van Sciver, MariNaomi, Roberta Gregory, Ben Snakepit, Hilary Barta, Brian Buniak, Ian Carney, Max Clotfelter, Donna Barr, Derek Ballard, Carrie McNinch, Ed Repka, Andi Watson and hundreds more.
The first 10 issues of NMSD contain general autobiographical stories with no specific theme. The themes of subsequent issues include:
- Issue 11: Childhood Tales: Age 11 & Under
- Issue 12: After Midnight: Late Night Stories
- Issue 13: Lucky/Unlucky: Luck of the Draw
- Issue 14: Dating
- Issue 15: 15 Minutes of Fame: Brushes With Celebrity
- Issue 16: Transportation
- Issue 17: High School
- Issue 18: Pet Stories
- Issue 19: Unexplained Events
- Issue 20: The Power of Music
Widely praised for their layout, design, & content, Small Diaries have been well received by reviewers and readers the world over. NMSD & MSD have appeared on the Favorite Zine list of the Zine Guide publication, were inducted into the Zine Hall of Fame in 2007, and have made the best-seller list at Atomic Books.
Small Diary publications have appeared in the following museum shows: Dark Matter at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 2004; Art of Zines at the San Jose Museum of Art, 2004; Dear Diary: The Autobiographical Comic Book at the Athens Institute of Contemporary Art, 2006; Art of Zines at the Anno Domini Gallery, San Jose, 2009; and The Comics of Alabama: An Exhibition and Exploration of Comics by Artists and Writers from Alabama, Montevallo University, 2017. Additionally, Not My Small Diary 17 was required text for a secondary education English course at Penn State University in 2013.
These zines have ridden aboard the Mobilivre-Bookmobile, a traveling library of independent publications that toured across North America. They also appear in several library collections including ones in Denver, Seattle, NYC, Chicago, Birmingham, and Utah, to name a few.
Samples from Not My Small Diary and My Small Diary (19)
See some of the great work taken from past issues of Not My Small Diary!
The World of Small Diary (25)
My Small Diary and Not My Small Diary zines have made a name for themselves in the world of small press. Click here to see every issue of NMSD and MSD that have been released.