Kate Gavino is a writer and illustrator. She is the author of three illustrated books: Last Night’s Reading (2015), Sanpaku (2018), and A Career in Books (2022). Her work has been featured in the New Yorker online, the Believer, the Washington Post, Oprah.com, and more.

Proust Questionnaire:

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I have a small home with lots of books, my best friend, and a chow chow. Robyn's demands to the pope in "U Should Know Better" have been met. I have an 1800 NASPA rating.

2. What is your greatest fear?

Being in a constant state of crippling anxiety.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Overthinking everything to the point of mental exhaustion.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Cruelty and the inability to empathize. Logan Huntzberger apologists.

5. Which living person do you most admire?

Anyone who can accomplish things without napping.

6. What is your greatest extravagance?

New stationery and coffee.

7. What is your current state of mind?

Reminding myself not to be so fatalistic.

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Superficial glamour.

9. On what occasion do you lie?

At the doctor's office. In an Uber pool.

10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?

[unfurls scroll then rolls it back up because who cares]

11. Which living person do you most despise?

Mr. Plod Daunt

12. What is the quality you most like in a man?

Kindness, empathy, curiosity, and good listening skills.

13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Kindness, empathy, curiosity, good listening skills, and an understanding that "Team Jess" doesn't necessarily mean he's the best person for Rory, but rather, he had the best emotional arc on the show.

14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

"😂" and "😭"

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?

The person who registered this domain, and Colleen.

16. When and where were you happiest?

With Dustin and Colleen in the apartment on Ryerson. Or, September 16, 2016.

17. Which talent would you most like to have?

Invisibility, financial responsibility, and effortless conversational skills.

18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I wish I didn’t always jump to the worst conclusion.

19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

TBD. But before that, winning first place (in my division) at my first Scrabble tournament.

20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

A chow chow or Colette.

21. Where would you most like to live?

The mansion on Guernsey Street.

22. What is your most treasured possession?

Colleen's collar.

23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Unwanted loneliness and hopelessness.

24. What is your favorite occupation?

An artist and a dog owner.

25. What is your most marked characteristic?

My observation skills and creativity.

26. What do you most value in your friends?

Genuine kindness and a bottomless appreciation for dumb shit.

27. Who are your favorite writers?

Zadie Smith, Toni Morrison, Anita Brookner, and Victor Hugo.

28. Who is your hero of fiction?

He's not necessarily a hero, but I relate deeply to the emotional garbage fire that is Marius Pontmercy. Also, Lauryn Hill in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Oh, and Claudia Kishi and Stacey McGill.

29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Hatshepsut.

30. Who are your heroes in real life?

Maxine Hong Kingston, Jens Lekman, Alfred Mosher Butts, Selena Quintanilla, Anita Brookner, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.

31. What are your favorite names?

Clementine and Colleen.

32. What is it that you most dislike?

Racism and sexism. 

33. What is your greatest regret?

Idealizing Rivers Cuomo.

34. How would you like to die?

Gently suffocated by a pack of chow chows after watching the second half of Chungking Express.

35. What is your motto?

“Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature”