They say laughter is the best medicine. For alternative songwriter, illustrator and podcaster BRETT NEWSKI, when a couple of doodles he’d posted to social media making light of his struggle with anxiety and depression garnered a surprising and overwhelming response, Newski decided to make his relatable coping mechanism of drawings into a series. Now, Newski presents three years’ worth of drawings in his book, It’s Hard to be a Person: Defeating Anxiety, Surviving the World, and Having More Fun. [Ramshackle Press, June 22, 2021], offering mental health boosts through humor and relatable quips about the perils of living in our world with a mental illness. Newski’s drawings offer a warmth and innocence that comforts readers and reflects their own experiences to assert that, despite the taboo of mental illness, most of us relate to each other on a deeper level when it comes to mental health. Newski’s podcast “Dirt From the Road” touches on similar mental health themes and has featured alternative rock star guests like All American Rejects, Stealth Ulvang (of The Lumineers), and Dashboard Confessional. As a musician, Newski performs over 100 tour dates per year between the US, Europe and South Africa. He has supported artists, such as Pixies, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Manchester Orchestra, and Better than Ezra. Newski has been featured in Rolling Stone, NPR, American Songwriter, SiriusXM, Boston Globe, and Billboard.

A soundtrack to the book featuring 8 original songs will release on June 18, 2021 worldwide. It features guest appearances by Barenaked Ladies co-founder Steven Page and Pat Macdonald (“Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades.”)