Paul
Madonna

Paul Madonna is an award-winning artist and best-selling author known for combining drawing and stories in a wide range of genres, from his enigmatic art series All Over Coffee which ran for twelve years in the San Francisco Chronicle, to his large-scale public murals, to his entertaining and sharply-plotted Emit Hopper mystery novels. Celebrated internationally in museums as well as in print, Paul's unique blend of drawing and storytelling has been heralded as an "all new art form."

Paul Madonna is an award-winning artist and best-selling author who combines drawing and stories in a wide range of genres. He is the creator of the series All Over Coffee, which ran in the San Francisco Chronicle for twelve years (2004–2015), and the author of eight books.

Known for his signature plein-air pen-and-ink style, Paul travels the world to draw on location. His drawings and public murals can be found internationally in print as well as in galleries and museums, including the Oakland Museum of California, the William Blake Association in France, and the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Paul has produced a number of unique large-scale murals for private and professional commissions, including Google, Starbucks, and Tacolicious, and has worked with the San Francisco Arts Commission on several public art projects, including the Art on Market Street series and a 40-foot permanent glass installation for the San Francisco International Airport.

Paul’s drawings and stories have been published in books, newspapers, magazines, and literary journals, by notable publishers such as City Lights Books, Bloomsbury, Graphic Arts, West Margin Press, McSweeney’s, ZYZZYVA, Alta, the South China Morning Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, and the Nob Hill Gazette.

Paul’s second book, Everything is its own reward, won the 2011 NCBA Award for best book, and his sixth, You Know Exactly, was a finalist for the 2022 Golden Poppy Book Awards. Paul is also author of the contemporary noir detective novels The Emit Hopper Mystery Series, and collaborated with author Gary Kamiya on the best-selling book, Spirits of San Francisco.

Paul was a founding editor for therumpus.net, has taught drawing at the University of San Francisco, and frequently lectures on creative practice. He has taught workshops around the world, including at Escena Studios in Mexico City and Pixar Studios in Berkeley California, and he is among the ten select established artist mentors at Art + Water, the tuition-free residency and art school at Pier 29 in San Francisco co-founded by Dave Eggers and JD Beltran.

Paul holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and was the first (ever!) Art Intern at MAD magazine.