Once again, it's time for the MoCCA Art Festival!April 28-29 Lexington Ave Armory 68 Lexington Avenue (between 25th & 26th Streets) NYC

MoCCA holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first comic convention I ever exhibited at, 10 years ago, where I fell in love with minicomics and the small press comics scene as a whole. The show has long been a favorite of mine, and although I won't have a table there this year, you can find me in a few places:

Saturday, April 28: I'll be sketching at the MoCCA Fest Sketch Table (near the front of the exhibition hall) from 1 - 2 PM!

Sunday, April 29: PANEL, Graphic Novels for Young Adults 11:15am Panel room A The New York Public Library's Betsy Bird talks to some of the brightest talents--Raina Telgemeier, Kevin Pyle, MK Reed, Derek Kirk Kim--in one of comics' fastest growing demographics. ***I MIGHT have a super-special, advance copy of DRAMA to give away at this event...! SIGNING, Abrams Comic Arts table 12:15pm-1:15pm I'll be signing EXPLORER: THE MYSTERY BOXES at the Abrams booth! Check the program for table number!

And of course, the weekend kicks off on Friday evening with the annual
DRINK AND DRAW LIKE A LADY, which I did the poster for this year: (Colored by Lucy Knisley!)

DDLL is a chance for all women who are enthusiastic about comics to get together, have a drink, draw some doodles, and have a good time. The event is FREE, and open to all comics artists, writers, editors, librarians, educators, students, designers, letterers, booksellers, and reviewers, but it's ladies only! Here are the details:

Drink and Draw Like A Lady Friday, April 27 7 PM 192 Books 192 Tenth Avenue (at 21st Street) NYC We have a Facebook invite page, if you'd like to RSVP! Or, just show up, bring minicomics and business cards to trade, and of course, bring your ladyfriends!

Just a few days following MoCCA, I'll be exhibiting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so look for information about that, soon!

I spent Wednesday talking with middle school girls (and workshopping with the fifth graders) at a school near Cleveland. It was great! The kids were talented and very inspiring. Everyone was wearing purple to celebrate a school administrator who'd had a housefire recently (this lady loves purple, you should see her office!)--so the pictures turned out especially fun! Here are some of the students with their freshly-signed copies of Smile.

Thanks to everyone who took part; I had a great time!

Over the weekend, I learned that Smile had won the 2011-2012 Maine Student Book Award! I don't even think I was aware it was nominated--sometimes I find out about these things from my publisher, and sometimes I don't. However, about a week ago, I received a bunch of letters from students in Maine, telling me they had all voted for me and were hoping I would win. Cut to a few days later, and I found out that I did! From the MSBA website:

"The Maine Student Book Award is designed to expand literary horizons of students in grades 4-8 by encouraging them to read, evaluate, and enjoy a selection of new books and to choose a statewide favorite by written ballot each spring."

4,077 kids voted, and Smile took it home with 746 votes. Thanks so much to everyone who voted, as well as the Maine Library Association, Maine Association of School Libraries, and Maine Reading Association.

***

To celebrate, I've added a new event to my calendar: the Maine Comics Arts Festival, happening on Sunday, May 20 in Portland, ME! I was there 2 years ago and it is a lovely, relaxed, family-friendly event. 12-and-under attendees are FREE, so I'm hoping I'll get to meet some of the students who voted for me, and the librarians and teachers who encouraged them to read and nominate in the first place. Dave Roman and John Green will be tabling with me, in support of their brand-new Teen Boat! graphic novel--perfect for an event that takes place right on the water, in one of the U.S.'s cutest port towns.

Nope, it's not an April Fool's joke. I'm doing a reading and signing this Sunday, April 1, at The Community Bookstore in Park Slope, Brooklyn starting at 11 AM. Myself and several other artists from the NURSERY RHYME COMICS anthology will be there for storytime shenanigans! Join us!

Last week I spent three days in the suburbs of Chicago, IL. Everything I did was within a 20-minute radius of the airport, and I never got into the city, but...I still had a blast.

My first stop was Des Plaines, where I gave a workshop for 50 talented students! This included my friend Kaprice, whom I met last time I was in Chicago two years ago...she was one of my very first fans, and it was great to see her again! Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of us. :( I spent the next day giving a talk and workshops at a middle school in Bloomingdale. Here they are filing in for the morning presentation...425 students in all! The students had made dolls (out of Pringles cans) based on historical figures for a project, and one girl decided to do ME! So here's Raina from Smile, complete with glittering braces, a Girl Scout sash covered in badges, and the curly hair I suddenly developed in 8th grade.

On my final day, I was a guest author at LitWorks, a Teen Read Workshop! I gave two talks and one workshop--my workshop was so popular I had students sitting on the floor and on top of tables! The workshop got cut a little bit short, but the attendees produced some really terrific comics. I didn't manage to get a picture of myself with the other authors (Carl Deuker, Ron Koetrge, Julie Halpern, and Ellen Hopkins) but they were all wonderful and a joy to spend time with.

From there it was straight to the airport...but look what I found in the YA section of a bookstore at O'Hare: First airport sighting of Smile (or any of my books), ever!! That was a really proud moment for me, and a nice way to cap off a great trip. Thank you, Chicago! I hope to be back soon!

I had a great couple of days in Cherry Hill, NJ, earlier this week! I got to speak with 800 middle school students, and workshop with nearly 300 of them, over the course of two full days. The school held a special lunch on day 2, for kids who wrote an essay saying why they wanted to meet me. What a great group! Everyone had terrific questions, and I had a lot of fun talking with them. It was the middle of Spirit Week, so this was taken on 'Flashback Day'--hence all the tie-dye! I promised them I'd post this photo on my site--so here it is! Can you spot me among the students?! People are often surprised by how short I am. I think I've been the same height (5'2") since I was 14!

My next stop is the suburbs of Chicago next week, where I'm visiting two middle schools and a high school Lit Fest. I won't have time for any extra events while I'm there, I'm afraid--I fly in, and work till the moment I fly out. EDIT!! I do have one public event, but you need to be in grades 6 - 12, and you have to sign up in advance. Workshop at Algonquin Middle School, Des Plaines, IL. Thursday, March 22! All participants in the workshop will receive a free copy of Smile!

My next public event is in Brooklyn: Sunday, April 1, I will be joining some of the other authors from NURSERY RHYME COMICS for a reading and signing at The Community Bookstore! That's at 143 Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. Event starts at 11 AM, hope you can make it!

That's all for now. Don't forget, you can add DRAMA to your Goodreads shelf, and you can pre-order it, too!

The Scholastic Graphix webcast earlier this week, WORDS ARE ONLY HALF THE STORY, went off without a hitch! It was terrific to spend time with the amazing Jeff Smith (BONE) and Kazu Kibuishi (AMULET), as always, and Scholastic had a really nice broadcast studio setup in their offices.

The webcast was streamed live to classrooms across the country, and is now available to view online! I can’t embed the video, but you can watch it here:

http://www.scholastic.com/graphix_teacher/video/playercode.html

It’s 30 minutes long, and you get to see us draw some stuff! The kids in the audience were so sweet. And they fangirl’d me in the bathroom before I went onstage. ^__^

Dave and I had a terrific time in the San Francisco Bay Area last week! We had a blast speaking, drawing, and meeting readers at our events at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, A Great Good Place For Books in Oakland, and The Reading Bug in San Carlos.

We also visited schools and libraries in Oakland, San Francisco, Pleasanton, and Alameda. On top of THAT, we spent some quality time catching up with our family and friends! And of course, we ate a whole lot of amazing food, as we always do when we're in San Francisco. Wonderful.

I want to share some of my favorite photos from the trip! We took a lot of them, which can all be found on our Flickr Page.

My utmost thanks to Jean Schulz, Jessica Raskin, Nina Kester, Lex Fajardo, Paige Braddock, and the whole crew at the Schulz Museum and Schulz Creative Associates; Kathleen and the ace staff at AGGPFB; Lisa Hobbs; Christine Chung; Jamie Renton; Linda Valler; Eva Volin; Mary Ann Scheuer; and all the other school and library administrators who made our visits possible; Lauren and co. at the Reading Bug; Jenni Holm for being a force of nature and setting up such a terrific event; and Kate Kubert Puls, for helping us pull the whole trip together!

And of course, thanks from the bottom of my heart to the READERS and FANS who made it all such a joy! I hope to see you again soon!

A few weeks ago, when I unveiled the cover of DRAMA, I promised to link to more info when it was available. Here you go: pre-order info and a book description!

Raina Telgemeier, the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the Eisner Award winner, SMILE, brings us her next full-color graphic novel . . . DRAMA!

Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon Over Mississippi, she's a terrible singer. Instead she's the set designer for the stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen, and when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier! Following the success of SMILE, Raina Telgemeier brings us another graphic novel featuring a diverse set of characters that humorously explores friendship, crushes, and all-around drama!

Publication Date: September 1, 2012 Age Level: 10 and up Grade Level: 5 and up

**PRE-ORDER NOW ON AMAZON!

**ADD IT TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELVES!

An exciting event coming up next month: I'll be taking part in a virtual classroom visit, and you can participate!

If you teach or have considered teaching graphic novels in school, this is the perfect live event for your classroom. Scholastic is hosting a live webcast with graphic novelists Jeff Smith (Bone series), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), and Kazu Kibushi (Amulet series). Your students are invited to join these acclaimed and bestselling authors in a lively discussion about using words and pictures together to create a narrative. Register your class today for the webcast on March 7th at 1PM ET/10AM PT.

When you sign up for the webcast, you’ll also have access to Scholastic's graphic novels teaching guide, webcast lesson plans around the authors’ books, and webcast tips for the classroom.

Grades 1–2, Grades 3–5, Grades 6–8, Grades 9–12 Subject: Reading

REGISTER HERE!!

Hi, again. I'm glad to hear so many people like the cover of Drama, and are looking forward to reading it! I'm looking forward to hearing what you all think. A few people have mentioned that it's not yet listed on sites like Amazon and Goodreads...when those sites update, I'll be sure to post the links here on my blog. I'm traveling to the San Francisco Bay Area soon, and I'd love to see people at my events there! I figured I'd make a big ol' post about where I'll be and when.

-----

My first stop is the Charles M. Schulz Museum, in Santa Rosa, where I'll be a Cartoonist-in-Residence! If you can make it up to the North Bay, this should be great.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11

SOLD OUT!! Master Class for Young Adults 10am–12noon Join Raina Telgemeier, creator of Smile, and Dave Roman, creator of Astronaut Academy, to explore the art of making comics and writing stories. Participants will learn about thumbnails, layouts, balloon placement, panel variation, and the mechanics of sequential art, and will have a chance to create their own 4–8 page short comic. Recommended for aspiring cartoonists ages 10 and up. Cost: $35 for members; $40 for non-members. Advance reservations required: (707) 284-1263.

Second Saturday Cartoonists 1–3pm As part of the Cartoonist-in-Residence program, visitors can meet, watch and talk to cartoonists Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman. The meet and greet is free with Museum admission and open to the public, and advance reservations are not required.

CHARLES M. SCHULZ MUSEUM 2301 Hardies Lane Santa Rosa, CA 95403 http://www.schulzmuseum.org

-----

The next day, I'll be in the East Bay! Come say hello, get signed copies of Smile and Astronaut Academy, and get to know a great independent local bookstore!

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 Bookstore Event & Signing 11:30 AM Featuring Raina Telgemeier & Dave Roman! A GREAT GOOD PLACE FOR BOOKS 6120 LaSalle Avenue Oakland, CA

-----

Later that week, join me for a very special event on the Peninsula!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17 GRAPHIC NOVEL NIGHT AT THE READING BUG! 5:00 PM Featuring kids' graphic novel creators Jenni Holm (Babymouse), Raina Telgemeier, and Dave Roman! Presentation, live drawing, and booksigning! THE READING BUG 785 Laurel St San Carlos, CA 94070

-----

I'll also be speaking at schools and libraries in Oakland, San Francisco, Pleasanton, Alameda, and Berkeley, but those are all private visits, so they're not on my official calendar of events. I tried to spread my appearances out so that no matter what part of the Bay Area you live in, something will be convenient! I hope to see you while I'm in town!

Now, for something I think a few people may have been waiting for... THE COVER OF DRAMA!

Drama by Raina Telgemeier September, 2012 Scholastic/Graphix 240 pages Full-color

I should be able to post a full book description soon, once the Scholastic Fall catalog drops. I'll be doing a huge wave of touring and promotion starting this spring, so keep your eyes on my events calendar (to the right of this blog) to see if I'll be coming to a town near you!

In just a couple of weeks I'll be in the San Francisco Bay Area for some school and library events, plus a few bookstore signings and a workshop at the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Full post with all the information is coming soon. I can't wait.

In the meantime, thanks for your patience as I finish up the production work on Drama. I'll have more exciting work-related news in the near future--never a dull moment here in my studio!

Take care, everyone!

~raina

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!

-----

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!

-----

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: -----

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.

Are you (or do you know) a librarian? Teacher? Principal? Bookseller? Dave and I would love to visit your school, library, or bookstore!

We have a solid week available (February 13-18) to do events for kids! We are offering our combined visual presentation; hands-on comics workshops; live readings; drawing demos; book signings, and more. We’re comfortable speaking to groups of 10 - 1000 people. The target age for the graphic novels we create is 9 – 12, but we’re happy to speak to teenagers or adults as well!

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!