ABOUT MONICA GANNON

Raised in New Jersey by hard-working, faithful, and loving parents, Monica and her three sisters grew up with a “roof over their heads, food on the table, and shirts on their backs,” as their father would often remind them. What they didn’t have in material riches were made-up for with an abundance of unconditional love, strong values, and a belief in something greater than themselves.

With the encouragement and support of her family, Monica followed her passion for play and accepted a full-ride basketball scholarship to the University of Maryland where she earned a BA in Graphic Design. She went on to play a year of professional basketball in Finland where the language barrier proved to be a considerable challenge. That silent, dark, snow-laden Finnish winter provided the perfect conditions for self-discovery. With nowhere to turn but inward, Monica found her true spiritual self and a renewed confidence in life.

On the heels of her renewed sense of enlightenment, Monica returned to the US where she met her husband, Ron, on a blind date. They married within the year and began traveling extensively, eventually finding themselves in Arizona where Monica earned a second degree in Art Education. They had two beautiful children in the Grand Canyon state. Feeling homesick,  Monica and her family decided to move back east to sunny North Carolina to be closer to their families.

While raising her family in North Carolina, Monica learned that her father was diagnosed with cancer. It was then that Monica turned to art and writing as a cathartic expression of her grief. What started as a dire need to make spiritual sense of her father’s humbling battle with cancer has evolved into her visually compelling, spiritually insightful, debut graphic novel, Parting Gifts.