Wendy MacNaughton is an American artist, illustrator, and graphic journalist based in San Francisco[1] She has published eleven books, including three New York Times bestsellers. Her work integrates drawing and social work practices to emphasize close observation, connection, and the experiences of overlooked individuals and communities.[2] Her illustrated documentary series Meanwhile was The New York Times' first weekly column of drawn journalism.[3] MacNaughton is the creator and host of DrawTogether, a multimedia participatory arts and social-emotional learning initiative for children and grown-ups.[4]
MacNaughton was born in San Francisco, California. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena in 1999, and a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University in 2005.[5]
Career
After earning her BFA, MacNaughton worked as a copywriter in corporate advertising. In 2000, she left to work with the Government of Rwanda and USAID, designing and producing the national educational and sensitization campaign for the country’s first free and fair local elections.[6] She later partnered with NGOs and academic institutions to create visual educational campaigns promoting civic engagement and health in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Northern Kenya.[7]
Visual Journalism
In 2010, MacNaughton created the drawn journalism series Meanwhile, documenting life and institutions in San Francisco. The series first appeared in The Rumpus, and several stories were later collected into the book Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words (2014).[8] A review in the San Francisco Chronicle compared MacNaughton’s work to that of oral historian Studs Terkel and she was profiled in The Atlantic's issue "How Genius Happens."[9]
The Meanwhile series became the back-page column for California Sunday Magazine, and MacNaughton later became the first weekly visual columnist for the New York Times, with Meanwhile appearing in the Sunday Business section. For that column, she built a mobile studio in the back of a Honda Element and traveled across the United States, meeting and drawing people for the series.[10]
Her book of visual journalism How to Say Goodbye (2023), combined drawings and interviews from her year-long residency at the Zen Hospice Project to document the experiences of caregivers and residents in end-of-life care.[11] The book, originally published in 2019 as an artists book and later published by Bloomsbury with an introduction by BJ Miller, was described by Atul Gawande as “a poem to mortality and the beauty of how we cope with it.” NPR selected it as a 2023 “Books We Love”[12] calling it “Tenderly illustrated... a beautiful reminder that death is a part of living and that we can learn from it… This guide about dying reminds the living to embrace the present and deepen our relationships.”
Women Who Draw
In 2016, MacNaughton co-founded Women Who Draw with illustrator Julia Rothman[13], a directory and advocacy platform for women, trans, and nonbinary illustrators. The platform helped shift the landscape of illustration by increasing visibility and professional opportunities for underrepresented artists[14] Women Who Draw concluded in 2025.
DrawTogether
In March 2020, on the first day of school closures in the San Francisco Bay Area, MacNaughton launched DrawTogether.[15] The initial program consisted of live, interactive online drawing sessions on Instagram grounded in social work practices, attended by thousands of participants worldwide, filmed by her then-wife, author Caroline Paul.
MacNaughton went on to lead the creation of a physical, full-scale, hand-made set and produced an educational video series for kids, with videos filmed and co-produced by Caroline Paul.[16]
DrawTogether Classrooms
DrawTogether Videos served as the foundation for DrawTogether Classrooms, a nonprofit educational initiative providing free art and social-emotional learning programming to educators and students, including videos, podcasts, curricula, and support, with Spanish and Chinese translations.[17] By 2025, DrawTogether Classrooms had reached nearly 300,000 learners worldwide.[18]
DrawTogether has been featured on PBS NewsHour[19] and New York Magazine.[20]
DrawTogether was featured in MacNaughton’s TED Talk, “The Art of Paying Attention”,[21] which has been viewed over four million times.
DrawTogether Grown-Ups Table
The Grown-Ups Table[22] is the adult-facing programming of DrawTogether, offering art and social emotional learning and community building opportunities to a grown-up audience. Hosted on the Substack platform, it is also used by educators and followed by more than 100,000 people as of 2025.
DrawTogether Strangers
DrawTogether Strangers began in 2023 with MacNaughton setting up a folding table and cardboard sign, and inviting strangers to sit down and look closely at one another through drawing.[23] She traveled across the United States hosting the experience in public spaces, later offering a free toolkit for people to host DrawTogether Strangers in their own community. The project has been profiled by The New York Times[24] and hosted by the National Gallery of Art[25] in Washington, D.C., and the de Young Museum[26] in San Francisco. The National Gallery created a short film about the project, highlighting its impact on empathy, connection, and interpersonal awareness.
Coverage of the Guantanamo Military Commission
In December 2019 MacNaughton was tapped to supply illustration to supplement The New York Times coverage of the Guantanamo Military Commissions.[27] During its sixteen years of operation the US Department of Defense had only approved four earlier illustrators. MacNaughton had to undergo a security check, and had to agree to a strict set of rules and other restrictions.[28]
MacNaughton wrote that Carol Rosenberg, the reporter she was working with, had warned her she could not really understand how covering Guantanamo would affect her, until she experienced it herself.[28] She wrote that there was a list of items that she could not include in her drawings, without making it was obvious something had been left out. When the officer assigned to approve her work went through her drawings he required her to surrender her hand-written copy of the restricted list, even though it was not classified, and had been previously published.
MacNaughton described only understanding the days proceedings later, when reporters explained it to her. She described covering the court as so stressful that she took up smoking again, even though she had quit ten years previously.[28]
Rosenberg wrote that, when he knew MacNaughton was not present, drawing the court, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed went back to adding a combat jacket over his traditional Islamic robes.[27]
Selected Books
Author and Illustrator
How to Say Goodbye (2023)[29], written and illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. Published by Bloomsbury. The book was a finalist for the California Book Award, selected for NPR’s Books We Love[30], and became a USA Today bestseller, and received a starred Review from Bookpage.
ISBN 9781639730858, 1639730850, OCLC 1377818710
Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words (2014), written and illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. Published by Chronicle Books.
ISBN: 9781452113890, 1452113890, OCLC 855905559
Illustrator
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (2017), written by Samin Nosrat and illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. Published by Simon & Schuster. The book won the James Beard Award for Best General Cookbook and the IACP Cookbook of the Year Award. ISBN-13: 978-1476753836, OCLC 952647644
The Gutsy Girl (2016), written by Caroline Paul and illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. Published by Bloomsbury. The book was a New York Times bestseller. ISBN 9781632861238, OCLC 907966106
Knives & Ink: Chefs’ Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them (2016), edited by Isaac Fitzgerald, with illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton. The book won the IACP award for design.[31] Published by Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781632861214, OCLC 945549917
Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them (2014), edited by Isaac Fitzgerald, with illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton. Published by Bloomsbury. 14 best books of 2014 by Brain Pickings.[32] ISBN 9781620404904, OCLC 870098122
Lost Cat (2013), written by Caroline Paul and illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. Published by Bloomsbury. The book was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.[33] ISBN 9781608199778, OCLC 795174361
Editor
Leave Me Alone with the Recipes: The Life, Art, and Cookbook of Cipe Pineles (2017), co-edited by Wendy MacNaughton, Sarah Rich, Debbie Millman, and Maria Popova. Published by Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781608199778, OCLC 795174361
Awards
2023: “Books We Love”, NPR, How to Say Goodbye[34]
2023: California Book Award, Finalist; How to Say Goodbye[35]
2020: Best of Illustration, New York Times, Clothing and Culture at Guantanamo Bay[36]
2011: Outstanding Service Alumni Award, ArtCenter College of Design[43]
2011: Awesome Foundation Grant, San Francisco Public Library Book Project[44]
2009: Artist in Residence, Intersection for the Arts[45]
Personal life
MacNaughton lives in San Francisco. After 15 years of marriage to her wife, writer Caroline Paul, the two separated in 2023.[46] MacNaughton and Paul collaborated on two books: Lost Cat and The Gutsy Girl.[47]
123Wendy MacNaughton (2019-12-27). "Drawing the Guantánamo Bay War Court". The New York Times. p.A2. Retrieved 2019-12-29. When I first walked into the military court at Guantánamo Bay in September, I was the first civilian artist in almost three years that the Pentagon had approved to sketch at the court on the base, and only the fifth ever.
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