Transcript – Ro Diamant – June 2026

Welcome to the True North Country Comics Podcast, dedicated to celebrating Canadian comic book and graphic novel creators and supporters. I'm John Swinimer. 

On this episode I chat with Ro Diamant about the graphic novel ‘Dancing with the Sheyd’ from Inservice Comics. 

Ro Diamont is an artist and librarian who grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but is now based in Victoria British Columbia. With artwork inspired by fairy tales and folklore, monsters and themes of identity, Ro’s work is often personal, conveying memories and feelings. The first graphic novel by Ro is entitled ‘Dancing with the Sheyd’, published by Inservice Comics. 

‘Dancing with the Shey’ is described as part memoir, part folklore, part pop culture parable. This beautifully hand-drawn graphic novel from Ro takes the reader on a journey through growing up Jewish in Winnipeg while being haunted by the ghosts of the past. 

So, without further ado, here's my chat with Ro Diamant about the graphic novel ‘Dancing With The Sheyd’ from Inservice Comics.

True North Country Comics: Ro Diamant, thank you for taking time to chat with me.

Ro Diamant: Thank you for having me on, John. I really appreciate it. 

TNCC: I appreciate your time. Before we get going with all the questions, I would like to know what was the first comic book that you read. 

RD: I'm not 100% sure. But I would guess ‘Archie Comics’. I would stay with my dad on the weekends when I was growing up and in his apartment there was a 7-11 downstairs. And so he'd give me some change and I'd run down and I'd pick up an Archie comic and a Cherry Blossom candy, which apparently doesn't exist anymore. And my dad didn't have a television, so I'd devour the Archie comic and I'd destroy them and read them in the bath and stuff. My dad would do wax carvings for jewellery and he'd kind of make sculptures for his work. And he had this giant -- well, not giant -- basically two wood cables kind of pushed together to form one giant table. And he'd sit on his side and do that and I'd sit on my side and like recopy characters from Archie Comics. And I guess I read the colour comics and the newspapers as well. And my mom's boyfriend, when I was a kid, would give me paperbacks from his collection. So stuff like ‘Mad Magazine’, ‘Peanuts’, ‘Wee Pals’ by Morrie Turner, things like that.

TNCC: Oh, lots of great stuff, absolutely, when you're growing up. But I'm wondering, who or what inspires you to create today? 

RD: A lot of other artists and art cartoonists like Geneviève Castrée, who wrote ‘Susceptible’. Tobias Tak, another cartoonist who passed away, but he was a dancer and a really beautiful, whimsical cartoonist. Dame Darcy kind of blew my mind. She wrote ‘Meat Cake’ and her comics were in this very dainty, Victorian aesthetic with like fine pen lines, but the characters were really grotesque and hilarious and like unrestrained. And it was like permission to just be really strange and just let everything out that I had in my mind. The work of Richard Sala has always really stayed with me. I also find inspiration in everyday life -- people I’ve known strangers, fairy tales, folklore, picture books, strange little objects at thrift shops and on like street corners. I collect way too many things like trinkets and toys and miniature sculptures. I'm looking around me now and the ledges of our apartment in my drawing studio area just like filled with little objects and art. And in the past couple of years instead of taking them home or feeling bad when I put them from thrift shops or wherever, I started drawing them into little zines. And that's probably one of my favourite recent projects. This series of mini comics called ‘Lonely Objects’. And I also don't think I have much of a choice anymore about creating. I just don't feel like myself, I guess, when I don't draw or create. Even if I think it's terrible. And with the state of the world right now, seeing a lot of things that I feel helpless about, I think like a lot of other creators, making art feels like a way to kind of share, or like sometimes shout out how I feel and share grief and anger and hope. Yeah. 

TNCC: Yeah, art is a great outlet for many reasons, absolutely, and that's tremendous. And speaking of great art, we're talking about your latest graphic novel ‘Dancing with the Sheyd’. What if you could talk a little bit about it? What does this book all about? 

RD: Sure, yeah. So ‘Dancing with the Sheyd’ is a coming-of-age story about my childhood in Winnipeg's Jewish community and growing disillusioned with Zionism and feeling alienated because of that and other reasons for many years, and then trying to reconnect with Judaism in my own queer way as an adult. I was born in Jerusalem, and my family has lived in Palestine since the early 1800s. Half my family still lives there, and it's always on my mind, and I just worry about things constantly.
And so this book was my way of... it's kind of like a love letter to my family and filled with hope, and it's filled with Jewish folklore, funny personal stories, a lot of family mythologies. Like there's a small part about my great uncle, Willie, who used to collect rent money from Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi,. He was such a character. He was like a 24-7 Vaudeville act, and the book has a lot of other family history, including a family mystery. There are some mischievous characters, namely Lilot, that appeared right away to me in a comic page I drew spontaneously before I'm making this book. And they appeared in a floating boat, naked with long braided hair and chicken feet. And in Jewish folklore, Lilot are the demon daughters of Lilith, Adam's first wife, who's also a character in my book. And they act like little magical guides, causing trouble, but also in their own sneaky way, helping the protagonist throughout the book.

TNCC: Ah ok. What message do you want readers to take away from your book after reading it?

RD:  I hope it connects with people from a wide array of backgrounds. And I hope that it reaches younger anti-Zionist Jewish people or people who feel wary about Zionism and speaking out with criticism. But I also hope it reaches that all Jewish people and all people can connect with elements of the story for anyone who is self alienated from their communities or struggling with their identity or health challenges. A good read for people who love folklore and wicked fairy tales and monster and magic. I want to, through this comic, normalize critiquing many devastating Zionist mythologies I was raised with. Yeah, those are some of what I hope people will take away and I hope it's funny too. I hope that people enjoy reading it. It's a weird book. I had a lot of trouble getting it published and there are a lot of people who complimented it and who told me it was unique, but they didn't think it would have a wide enough audience to publish it or they just didn't know what to do with it. And so I'm very grateful for Nick because I've already gotten enough feedback from people on what it's meant to them or that they believe in it -- that it's already been worth it for me to put it out there in some form. 

TNCC: And the Nick you're referring to is Nick Friesen from In-Service Comics. I presume based on your feedback and work with them thus far you're pretty happy with working with them. 

RD: Oh, yeah, Nick is the best. He was actually one of the first people to read my manuscript. I sent it out to quite a few friends and then I put out an open call to any cartoonist who wanted to exchange work in progress with me and we read each other's work and he gave me a lot of great feedback. We chatted at TCAF last year about how the difficulties in finding a publisher, a good publisher that we were happy with for our work. Yeah, and I was having a really tough time being ghosted or getting positive feedback, but positive rejections. And one day I just reached out to Nick and I was like: ‘Nick, I am totally okay if you don't think it's a good fit. But I was wondering how you'd feel about Inservice publishing ‘Dancing with the Sheyd’’ And he was just kind of like: ‘I have been hoping you would reach out for a long time. Yes, you know, I believe in this project. Yes’. And so it just felt like kismet. Yeah. 

TNCC: That's great. I'd like to switch gears a wee bit and ask you to talk a bit about your creative process and perhaps what tools use to create your book. 

RD: I use pen and pencil and ink usually on 11 x 14 Bristol but really all sorts of paper sizes for details that I piece together. It also has an old diary page that I drew over. I use photo editing program for making the blacks more black and fixing the lettering which was a very challenging process for me because I naturally just abysmal at lettering. And it was, I really, really worked hard to try and make the lettering as accessible for my pen lettering as I could. I used a script for the first time ever for this graphic novel. Before that, I drew spontaneously. I'd stay up late at night drawing after work, but I was really lucky in that I applied for my first art grant and I received it. And so it allowed me to work on this project full time for about six months and I stretched that out a little bit. I wouldn't have been able to make it and change the way I draw and take my time and really pace myself without that funding. So I'm very appreciative. It was through the Canada Council for the Arts and I'm eternally grateful for that. 

TNCC: Great. Now we met just very briefly at last year's Prairie Comics Festival so I wanted to ask you what you liked most about that event. 

RD: Oh my gosh. It's one of the most supportive comics festivals that I've been to. It's small but it's mighty. And everyone is very supportive of each other and the organizers make sure that you know that you're, you know, they know who you are, they want you to succeed. It's very clear that comics are very beloved in that community. And it's also a great event for -- I traded so much stuff with other people around me, which is always, always like really great. And I guess the benefits of smaller fests is that you can have more less-rushed conversations and there's a little bit less stress. You maybe sell a little bit less but you just have very meaningful conversations which is a great alternative in my opinion. 

TNCC: Yeah. Yeah, it was a great event. Absolutely. And another great event that you're going to be going to I understand is the Toronto Comic Arts Festival and I wanted to ask you what are you looking for to most at that event? 

RD: Seeing friends I only get to see once a year. Meeting people having conversations one on one. I'm not great in super busy social situations but I love having those one on one conversations and talking with people about art and life and how art helps them in life. And I had really meaningful conversations with people last year at TCAF. And the events, meeting the other Inservice creators at the launch event should be great. That's it in that Netplaza where the Canada Comics Open Library is now. And I really missed Toronto I miss how you know there's a lot of fortunate realities to being an artist living there that are difficult but there's so much life everywhere and art everywhere. And I always leave the festival with just being inspired to dive back into creating or whatever project I'm working on. 

TNCC: We've been talking about ‘Dancing With The Sheyd’, but I’ve got to ask you what is the next project that you're working on that you can talk about? 

RD: I guess I'd have to go back a little bit. But before ‘Dancing With The Sheyd’ -- a project that kind of led into ‘Dancing With The Sheyd’ was my ‘Cute Nose’ series. This was a series of mini comics that I kind of playfully started making which were inspired by a few things in part by health struggles at the time. Depression I was experiencing that wasn't uncontrolled at the time. Dealing with complicated feelings about being Jewish and I'd come home at the end of a long work day and I'd stay up way too late drawing. Yeah, comics have always helped me over the years and it's been a good tool for me to express myself and figure out the world. And I think that's what I was doing through ‘Cute Nose’. And it was also inspired by clay miniatures. I started making during the pandemic that I kind of playfully called golems after the 16th century Jewish folklore creature made of clay, who was created by a rabbi to save the Jewish community in Prague from ‘pogroms’. And making these golems helped alleviate some anxiety at the time and I haven't been able to stop playing with clay since then. And I started drawing these clay-like creatures into my comics and it sort of opened a portal for me to begin drawing comics more regularly with less restrictions or self-doubt imposed on them. So that was ‘Cute Nose’. And that also led into ‘Dancing With The Sheyd’, but I have three issues of ‘Cute Nose’ now. And my next project that I'd like to do is get them published as a collection and not self-publish them anymore. I'd like to try and find a publisher for that project. And also, coming up, there's a larger project I applied for some grant funding for, but I can't really speak more to that right now. Actually, also going through an intensive application process to enter a business program locally through WorkBC in a college on the mainland, with the aim to open up a local DIY art space in Victoria with zines and independently made art. I'm calling it Inkies for now. And for that project, I also want to grow the small press and self-publish sections of Lost Doll, and my webshop and distros. So lots of hope and dreams in the works. I always share on Instagram, maybe over share. So I'll keep everyone updated there. 

TNCC: Yeah. Lots of great stuff on the go. And you mentioned Instagram. Is that probably the best place where people can find about your current and your future work? 

RD: Yeah. So people can find me online on Instagram. Just my full name Rotemannandiamont, R-O-T-M-A-N-N-A-D-I-A-M-O-N-T, and my website is Rotemannandiamont.com. Same spelling. I'm also on Bluesky, but I haven't the heart to use it regularly yet. Also for anyone who wants to check out those clay creatures, golem creatures, I mentioned I have a Tumblr as well that I regularly post clay that I make on called Tiny-Golems. And I also do have a Patreon, but I'm not super active on it. It's kind of just like if people want to buy me a coffee from time to time. But Instagram is probably the place that I'm on far too often. 

TNCC: Very good. Well, Ro, those are all the questions I have for you. But I'm wondering, is there something I didn't ask that you like to get across in this interview? 

RD: I really want to thank you for doing these interviews and supporting Canadian cartoonists and it's really meaningful the work that you do. And I guess I want to express that I'm really hoping to have difficult conversations with people about my book, about the topics surrounding my book. I can speak to my own experiences. I don’t want Zionism to be this topic that people feel fearful to speak about, because it's such an emotional topic for Jewish people and for so many people. And anti-Zionism is often associated with anti-Semitism and I hope that this graphic novel and my own personal story and experiences can help dispel that. And I'm open to speaking about speaking with people who have different perspectives than my own. Yeah, I guess I just wanted to mention that. Thank you again so much.

TNCC: Thanks to roe for the chat. You can discover more about Ro Diamont online at RotemAnnaDiamont.com. And on Instagram at @RotemAnnaDiamont. You can discover more about ‘Dancing With The Sheyd’ at Inservice comics. 

And thank you for tuning in to the True North Country Comics Podcast. You’re invited to visit the True North Country Comics website to listen to even more conversations with creators about making comic books and graphic novels. You can follow along @TrueNorthCountryComics on most social media platforms and you're encouraged to send any and all feedback to john@truenorthcountrycomics.com. 

Thanks for tuning in and come back soon for another episode. 

Bye for now. 

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