Author Mary Ladd in conversation with Peter Lawrence Kane

The Wig Diaries is Mary Ladd’s debut disrespectful cancer book. Delivered with bold gallows humor, it intimately address the gravity of cancer and invites the reader to bear witness to both the horror and the joke(s). Armed with creative sensibility, Ladd robs her diagnosis of its dour weightiness. Refusing to tiptoe around the gnarlier elements of treatment and recovery, the narrative is powerful in its unvarnished honesty and contagious lust for life exemplified by hilarious anecdotes.  

• A uniquely fresh modern and black comedy take on cancer
• Covers and pokes fun at everything from diagnosis to treatment to medical bills
• Illustrated by San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Don Asmussen, who has cancer for the second time

“I love this book.”– Mary Roach, author of the books Grunt, Stiff, Spook, and Bonk 

“This looks like a hoot and a half. I want more.”– Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), author of A Series of Unfortunate Events 

“Clear-eyed, fun, and reassuring, it’s the perfect guide!” – Vanessa Hua, author of A River of Stars and Deceit and Other Possibilities

Mary Ladd‘s writing has appeared in Playboy, Time Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and in five anthologies. She is a Writers Grotto member who collaborated with Anthony Bourdain on his Bay Area episodes of No Reservations. Illustrator Don Asmussen is the creator of Bad Reporter, a twice-weekly political comic strip in the San Francisco Chronicle that is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate.

Peter Lawrence Kane was the editor of SF Weekly from 2017-19 and continues to contribute to the paper. He has only 11 more national parks to go before reaching all 61 in America, which is going to require at least three expensive trips to Alaska.