Leigh Rubin, the creator of the nationally syndicated cartoon, Rubes®, will visit the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library at March 26. He presents his art and discusses the creative process and his new, best-of collection book at 6 p.m. in Marvin Auditorium 101BC. He encourages questions, so bring your curiosity.

Attendees will be able to purchase his new book, “The Wild and Twisted World of Rubes,” at the event, which ends with a book signing. Rubes® is in its 26th year.

"It really doesn't seem like it's been that long," he said. "Each day is just a blank piece of paper. It's like a cartoon factory, but we make a new product each day."

Rubes® doesn't have a central recurring character, so Rubin designs cartoons that can stand independently of each other. He says his artistic passion was encouraged by his 3rd grade teacher in 1967.

"Maybe what I was doing at the time was just horrible 3rd grade garbage, but all it takes is an encouraging word," Rubin said.

If you want to read his work before the talk, log onto catalog.tscpl.org and search by author for Leigh Rubins. You will find a number of Rubins’ books available to checkout. Or just pick up an edition of the Topeka Capital-Journal, which carries his cartoon.

Rubins says he hopes his cartoon gets people thinking and looking at things in different ways.

"The more ways you can look at something, the more creative you can get with solving a problem," he said.

You can also more of view his art and learn more about Rubin at his website, www.rubescartoons.com.