About

Dave Coverly, a native of Plainwell, Michigan, is the creator of the cartoon panel “Speed Bump”, which runs internationally in hundreds of newspapers and websites, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Globe & Mail (Toronto), and the Detroit Free Press. His work was named “Best in Newspaper Panels” by the National Cartoonists Society in 1995, 2003, 2014 and 2022.

In 2009 the same organization gave him its highest honor, the prestigious Reuben Award, for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year”.

His cartoons are published by several greeting card companies, which include American Greetings, Sellers, NobleWorks, and Woodmansterne (UK).

Coverly’s cartoons have also appeared in The New Yorker, USA Today,The New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire, Ranger Rick, Jr., and have been a regular feature in Parade. He is also the principle cartoonist for BarkBox.

Books include Speed Bump: A Collection of Cartoon Skidmarks (Andrews McMeel), Cartoons for Idea People (ECW), Just One %$#@ Speed Bump After Another (ECW),  Dogs Are People, Too, and its sequel, Cats Are People, Too (Macmillan). Children’s picture books include Sue MacDonald Had a Book (with Jim Tobin, Macmillan), The Very Inappropriate Word (with Jim Tobin, Macmillan), and How To Care For Your T-Rex (with Ken Baker, Macmillan). His chapter book trilogy began with Night of the Living Worms, and continued with Night of the Living Shadows, and Night of the Living Zombie Bugs (all with Macmillan).

Coverly earned his BS with a double major in Imaginative Writing and Philosophy at Eastern Michigan University, and received his MA in Creative Writing from Indiana University.

In 2011, he was asked to give the commencement address at EMU, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts. 

He lives with his wife, Chris, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has two adult daughters, Alayna and Simone.