— LISTEE'S SPOTLIGHT —

Polly S. Leonard Keener is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator known for her work on syndicated newspaper features including the comic strips “Hamster Alley,” and “Toon Appetit,” and puzzles “Mystery Mosaic” and “Sudoku Happi.” She began working as a freelance illustrator in 1969 and gained notoriety for her “Animal Drolleries” satirical comics in the 1970s. In 1977, Ms. Keener became the president of Keener Corporation, and in 1979, she joined the University of Akron faculty as a cartooning instructor. She would maintain her affiliation with the school until 2004 as well as teaching cartooning and soft sculpture at Northeast Ohio Medical University.

In addition to her own features, Ms. Keener was a cartoon text writer for Prentice Hall for more than 20 years. She is the author of the generation-defining instruction book “Cartooning” and has been the recipient of honors including the National Cartoonists Society Tim Rosenthal Award, the Women’s History Project 1989 Woman of the Year award, and a visiting artist award from Heidelberg University, among others.