Rumor has it that I might be unveiling the cover for DRAMA sometime this week. Come back soon for an update…!

Hi everyone!

Just popping my head in with a quick announcement: there’s a t-shirt sale going on now, at the Comics Bakery site! Both my Smile t-shirts, and my old Windy Girl t-shirts are on sale until Saturday, December 17. Shirts as low as $10!

I’m almost sold out of the Smile t-shirts–all of the Large sizes are already gone. I don’t plan to reprint them anytime soon, so if you want one, now’s your chance!

And just as a reminder, you can still buy my original comics pages too! Please make sure all orders are in by December 17, if you want them shipped by Christmas.

Back to work! So much to do!…

We’re back from France, and I’m still playing catch up on work and admin stuff around the studio–but I can’t resist making a quick post about the trip!

Souriez!

The main anchor of the trip was attending the Quai des Bulles festival in Saint-Malo, on the Breton coast about 3 hours northwest of Paris. I had never heard of QdB (referred to colloquially by most French as simply, ‘Saint-Malo’) before I was invited by my French publisher, Akileos, but it was described as being France’s second-largest comic convention (after the behemoth Angouleme), extremely family-friendly, and located in a really neat town. I had trouble finding much information available in English, about the town or the convention, so I just packed my bags and hoped for the best.

It’s very hard to summarize what a wonderful time I had. Everyone treated me like gold, the convention was chock-full of enthusiastic young comic fans, the city itself is jaw-dropping, and the food was to die for. Talk about a best-case scenario! Dave compiled the best of our photos from the weekend and some video footage into one video package! Here ’tis:

Comic Festival in Saint-Malo from Dave & Raina on Vimeo.

I loved hanging out with the Akileos crew, and the other authors they publish. We had some great dinners together, and they really took amazing care of Dave and I! They also kept me full of macarons! (I think the chocolate and passion fruit flavor was my favorite.)

My most sincere and humbled thanks for this opportunity to to Richard Saint Martin (Akileos PR guru and translator extraordinaire) and Emmanuel Bouteille (Akileos Editor), both of whom were an absolute joy to get to know. We laughed, we cried, we ate a lot of salted butter caramel.

Me with Akileos editor Emmanuel, and Aurelien, Mara, and Diane after our first dinner in Saint-Malo!

The rest of their convention staff provided me with vital support on the show floor, explaining my book to anyone who didn’t speak enough English to understand my pitch. Thank you so much Fred, Aurelien, and Diane!

Tons and tons and tons of kids…

Finally the Akileos authors we spent the weekend with were a hoot. I count myself lucky to be among them. Thank you to Dan Lish, Ian Culbard, Mara, JP Kalonji, Ted Mathot, Ronan and Vincent! Can’t wait to see you all again.

Dave and I fell unabashedly in love with a particular Breton pastry we’d never heard of before: kouign-amann (sounds like, Queen Yaman). They’re everywhere in this city, but it took us till Saturday to actually try one. After that it was all we wanted to eat, and we’re still talking about it.

Kouign-amann

Dave wrote up a Quai des Bulles convention report for The Beat! He spent more time than I did walking the floor and taking pictures, especially of all the neat comics we saw–so it’s worth a read.

After three wonderful days of festival, we were on to Paris.

Paris, we’d heard a whole lot more about, obviously, and we only had a couple of days to spend there. It was a bit of a whirlwind. See this thing, go here, meet someone there, look at that thing very quickly. I wish we’d had more time, but I was grateful for what we had! Paris really is full of amazing comic shops, and the market for kids’ comics there is inspiring. Dave and I felt like we could see the future of where our own industry might be going.

Comic shops everywhere!

On Tuesday I did a lovely signing at the fantastic Arkham Comics! They specialize in American comics, and have been big supporters of Smile since it came out last year. I got to meet a bunch of my kind and eloquent readers there, as well as hang out with the store owners: Philippe and Philippe! They took us out for our best meal in Paris before the signing, and when we got back to the store, things were busy!

They made me a poster!

I was especially stoked to see two of my friends, Erika Moen and Matt Nolan, who live in Portland but were traveling through Paris en route to Strasbourg. Nothing like seeing familiar faces in a strange land!! Thank you, Matt and Erika, for making time to come and see me on a rainy day.

Matt and Erika! Hooray!

And thank you, Philippe and Philippe, for hosting me and making me feel right at home.

The next day, I had a short signing at a French-language comic shop, the lovely and huge Librairie BD Net. I got to meet a few French readers there, as well as an American or two! Richard from Akileos was able to be there, and as always, it was nice to have a translator for those who weren’t comfortable speaking English. Thanks a bunch to LbdN for hosting me. I wish we could have bought half the books in your beautiful store!

After the signing Richard took us on a crazy walk around the city, quickly getting in a bunch of the sites we’d missed previously. We covered a lot of territory and by the end, my feet were crazy sore! But it was so worth it. My favorite part was walking around the courtyard at the Louvre, and through a passageway where a man was sitting and playing an absolutely haunting melody on a cello, echoing through the stone arches. Glorious.

Dave and I at Luxembourg Gardens

We arrived back in New York late last Thursday night, and I hit the ground running, jumping straight back into work the next day. My final book deadline for DRAMA is coming right up, and I still have to finish the inks, create the cover artwork, and do a bunch of production stuff between now and the week before Christmas! So, no rest for me.

Thanks again to everyone who made my trip to France possible, including my readers there! I hope I get to see you again one of these days. Merci and au revoir, until then!

If you want to look at all of our photos, they’re on Flickr!
SAINT-MALO photos!
PARIS photos!

Just a quick note to say that I’ll be doing a second signing in Paris, on Wednesday, 11/2!

Librarire BD Net
26 rue de Charonne – Paris
Wednesday, November 2
04:00 pm - 6:00 pm

That’s it for now–I’m off to the airport!

I’m beyond thrilled to be a guest at the upcoming Quai des Bulles Festival in St-Malo, France! This is France’s second-largest comics festival, after Angouleme. St-Malo is a walled port city on the Brittany coast…it looks unbelievably cool!

QUAI DES BULLES
October 29, 30, 31
Espace Duguay Trouin
Esplanade Saint-Vincent
35400 Saint-Malo
More information (in English) can be found here!

My French publisher, Akileos, will be hosting me, and I’ll be signing copies of the French-language version of my book, Souriez! Will you be there? Please come say bonjour!

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Then I head to Paris! On Tuesday, November 1, I’ll be signing at Arkham Comics in Paris, France!

Philippe and Philippe, the excellent owners of Arkham, have been big supporters of my work for awhile now, and I’m so excited they’re hosting me for this event! Come say hello and get a copy of Smile (or the French version, Souriez between 3 and 6 PM!

Arkham Comics
7 rue Broca
75005 Paris, France
Information and reservations: 01 43 37 25 33

The full scoop is on Arkham’s website (which is in French).

Here’s an awesome video Arkham made last year, to promote Smile:

I don’t speak French, so this will be quite the adventure! (French friends, I hope you’ll forgive me…) I’m sure I’ll have plenty to tell you about when I return!

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UPDATE!!
I’ve added a second signing to my schedule:
Librarire BD Net
26 rue de Charonne – Paris
Wednesday, November 2
04:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Dave and I will be traveling to California in February of 2012, to visit my family and to take part in a really neat event which I’ll have more information available about, soon. But I figure, if we’re going to be out there anyway, perhaps we can add a few events to our calendar! Here’s a handy press release for the information rundown:

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Husband and wife graphic novelists, Raina Telgemeier (Smile) and Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity) will be traveling to the San Francisco Bay Area in February, 2012.

If you’re interested in booking us for an event, please send an inquiry email to goRaina [AT] gmail [DOT] com. We will be in touch soon with a list of our programs and fees.

—–

Here are a few photos from my last California tour!

Perhaps we could do this again? Drop me a line! Hope to talk to you soon.

Earlier this week, Dave and I were interviewed for a profile piece in the New York Times! The article takes a look at the married life of two cartoonists, and talks about what we have going on this weekend at the New York Comic Con. Head over to the link to read the article!

Raina and Dave in the New York Times!

The story (with a completely different photo!) is also in today’s print edition of the Times, on page A17.

Some tricks and treats for you today:

++If you’re wondering how to say my name, I teamed up with a site called TeachingBooks.net, which offers audio clips of authors saying their names! I also included a couple of pronunciation tips, and an anecdote about how got my name in the first place. Just follow the LINK!

++From the same site: here’s a short recording I made where I talk about Smile, and even read an excerpt.

++In other news, I updated my info page with some frequently asked questions! Take a look.

++Finally, I’ll be dropping into the New York Comic Con this weekend. My schedule of signings and panels is here, in case you missed it the first time around.

Happy October!