Raymond Biesinger

My guest on this episode is Raymond Biesinger. Raymond is a Montréal-based illustrator, artist, and author whose work has been published in places like Billboard, the Economist, the Globe & Mail, the Guardian, the New Yorker, The Walrus, and more. His debut book was the bestseller 305 Lost Buildings of Canada, which he illustrated and which was written by Alex Bozikovic. His most recent book is 9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off, published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2025. Author Cory Doctorow called the book “a masterclass in how creative workers can transform the endless, low-grade seething about the endless ripoffs of the industry into something productive and even profound.”

Raymond and I talk about his original plan to become a journalist, not an illustrator, about how his most recent book started life essentially as an act of blackmail, and about how having published a book about being ripped off has already helped in encouraging clients to pay him on time.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.

Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

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