Hey guys!! THE BOOK COMES OUT IN ONE WEEK. Oh my goodness. I don't have all of my tour dates ironed out yet, but I can at least share the ones happening through the second week in September! Below are the places you can find me celebrating Sisters' book release. I'll post the rest of my fall schedule as soon as I have it!

Saturday, August 30 National Book Festival Presentation 6:00-6:35pm Book signing 7-8pm Washington, DC

Saturday, September 6 Presentation and signing, also featuring Jimmy Gownley & Dave Roman! Politics & Prose 5015 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 3:30pm

Sunday, September 7 ***SISTERS Official Book Launch Party!!!*** Food, live readings, prizes!!! Book Court Brooklyn, NY 4pm

September 13-14 Small Press Expo Bethesda, MD

September 15 One More Page Books Event & Signing Arlington, VA Time TBA

Also, a reminder to readers everywhere: If I won't be visiting your town this fall, you can still get a signed copy of Sisters in the mail! My local independent bookstore, Astoria Bookshop, is the official place to order a signed copy. You order it, I sign it, they ship it to your door! Be sure to pre-order ASAP if you want a copy as close as possible to the book's release date!

I'll be back soon with more info and more tour dates...see you soon!

Yeah!! This is so cool, and kinda surreal. Pick up the August 15, 2014 issue of Entertainment Weekly to read an interview with me about Sisters and Smile, my family, and comics in general!

Hi everyone! Wow, two weeks until Sisters is out...I'm still sorting out the details of my book tour, although some of the events have been added to my events calendar (over on the right-hand sidebar of my site's homepage!) and I'll be adding lots more in the next week or so. I'll be visiting NYC, DC, Boston, Las Vegas, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Miami and lots more.

If you're not in a state or province I'm visiting, you're still in luck however! I'm pleased to announce that I'm partnering with my local indie bookstore, Astoria Bookshop, to offer signed copies of my books by mail!

Astoria Bookshop will ship signed copies of my books (including Smile and Drama) anywhere in the United States or Canada, either by USPS or UPS, at various shipping speeds and costs.

*****You can order them here!*****

I'm really excited to finally have a way to send signed books to everyone who wants them! And, it's really wonderful to be able to support an independent bookstore -- doubly so, one in my own neighborhood. If you find yourself in Astoria, Queens, please do yourself a favor and swing by, and tell them Raina sent you...

San Diego Comic-Con International is coming right up! Here's where you can find me during the show.

Saturday, July 26

11am-12pm Cartoon Art Museum Booth signing #1930 Sketches are $10 suggested donation. (Please note that books are not for sale at this signing. The main purpose is to raise funds for San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum - one of my favorites!)

Sunday, July 27

12pm – 1pm Panels & Pictures – A Graphic Novel Panel (Kids/YA) Room 32AB

1:30pm – 2:30pm Raina Telgemeier signing at Sails Pavilion, AA09 (Books will be for sale at this event!)

YES! Comics Squad: Recess comes out next week, and Dave and I are doing an event to celebrate!

Join us on Wednesday, July 9 from 6:30-8pm at the ASTORIA BOOKSHOP - a lovely, new independent bookstore right here in our own neighborhood! New Yorkers not in Astoria, fear not: the shop is very close to the N/Q's Broadway stop (just a couple of minutes out of midtown), and there is also plenty of parking nearby. Make an evening of it - there are tons of really great restaurants on the intersecting avenues!

We'll be doing a live reading, some Q&A, and a drawing game--audience participation is totally encouraged! There will be snacks. And, we'll be signing copies of Comics Squad and our other books!

COMICS SQUAD: RECESS! Drawing Party with Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman THE ASTORIA BOOKSHOP 31-29 31st Street (between Broadway and 31st Avenue) Astoria, NY 11106 (718) 278-2665 6:30-8pm

RSVP on Astoria Bookshop's Facebook Page!

WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER NOW!!

Hey, Librarians! I'm excited to be attending the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas, June 27-30!

You can find me at the following events and programs:

Friday, June 27 6:00pm Graphic Novel Stage - Comics Quickfire! Interactive drawing game show where two audience members will team up with artists Jake Parker (Missile Mouse), Raina Telegemeier (Smile) and Nathan Hale (Hazardous Tales). Hosted by Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy) and Gregg Schigiel (Pix).

Saturday, June 28 4:00-5:00pm Random House Signing for COMICS SQUAD: RECESS!, Booth #543

Sunday, June 29 10:30-noon Scholastic Literary Event (ticketed) 3:00-4:00pm Follett Signing, Booth #1117 4:00-5:00pm Scholastic Signing for SISTERS ARCS, Booth #430-431

Monday, June 30 10:00-11:00am Graphic Novel Stage with Tom Angleberger and Cece Bell A conversation between Tom Angleberger (Origami Yoda), Cece Bell (El Deafo) and Raina Telgemeier (Sisters)!

12:00-1:00pm Graphic Novel Stage - Comics Bakery A live performance graphic novel theater involving lots of audience participation and silliness. Raina Telgemeier (Drama), Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), and Jerzy Drozd (Cap’n Cat) will perform chapters from some of their latest comics.

AND, I'll be tabling with Dave at Artist Alley Booth #2120! This is where you can find me anytime I'm not scheduled to be somewhere else. (Although I might have a sandwich in my face.) Come to our AA table for signed copies of Smile and Drama, original art, and Smile t-shirts (which will be back in the site store in July when we're back from the conference)! Dave will have new Astronaut Academy t-shirts, and copies of his brand-new webseries, Starbunny, Inc. too - come get one and get in on the ground floor!

Smile t-shirts are back at booth #2120!

YEAH! Publishers Weekly's Panel Mania has an exclusive, 7-page preview of SISTERS that you can read right now! Check it out on their site!!

This boggles my mind: SMILE just hit the two-year mark on the New York Times Graphic Books Bestseller list. Two years!!! Without a movie tie-in, without being part of a series, and while competing with books like Batman and The Walking Dead. This would not have happened without the support and enthusiasm of booksellers, librarians, teachers, bloggers, and most of all, readers. So thank you, readers! You've made my day/week/month/year! *****

I had a nice time at Book Expo America and Book Con this past week and weekend. It's exciting to see so much support for Sisters, before it's even published. Here are a couple of photos:

The enormous, lit-up Sisters banner at the Scholastic booth!

Signing books before my Book Con panel.

*****

So a couple of weeks ago, I got a neat surprise: Mark Tatulli, who is best known as the creator of the syndicated comic strips Lio and Heart of the City, decided to write a week's worth of HotC basically celebrating Smile and the awesomeness of graphic novels in general. Here are the strips:

To say I was flattered was a huge understatement!!

I got a chance to meet Mark at Book Expo, and he is just as nice as can be. Thanks again to Mark for this incredible shout-out! I hope some of my readers will check out his comics in return.

Bookseller friends: BEA is upon us! I'll be at or around the show pretty much every day. Here's where you can find me! Wednesday, May 28 3:45 – 4:30 PM SLJ Day of Dialogue Panel: “Storied Lives” Moderator: Paula Willey, Librarian Panelists: Lois Ehlert, Chris Raschka, Raina Telgemeier and Peter Sís (SLJ's Day of Dialogue is closed to the public, but if you're a ticketed attendee, I hope to see you at my panel!)

Thursday, May 29 4:00-5:00 PM The Best in Fall 2014 Graphic Novels Panel Javits: Uptown Stage Moderator: Calvin Reid Panelists: Michael Cho, Farel Dalyrymple, Raina Telgemeier and Jules Feiffer Join in with graphic novelists Michael Cho (Shoplifter), Farel Dalrymple (The Wrenchies), Jules Feiffer (Kill My Mother), and Raina Telgemeier (Sisters) discuss their upcoming graphic novel projects and the state of the graphic novel industry with Publishers Weekly’s Calvin Reid.

Friday, May 30 11:00 – 11:30 AM BEA signing—TABLE 2 I will be signing galleys of Sisters!

3:30 - 4:45 PM CBC Tea with Children’s Authors Location: Room 1E12/13

Saturday, May 31 (BEA Bookcon) 10:00-11:00 AM The Graphic Novel Today Room 1E16 Moderator: Calvin Reid Words and pictures: they were the perfect combination in books when we were kids! But today, books with pictures can be for everyone, young and old, when they’re combined as a graphic novel. Three experts, including Calista Brill, Karen Green and Raina Telgemeier, from around the graphic novel industry talk about visual literacy, audience and the broad appeal of the graphic novel today with Publisher Weekly’s Calvin Reid.

My upcoming graphic novel Sisters got a writeup in the Wall Street Journal! You can read the piece online here, including a couple of preview panels!

Sisters comes out on August 26th.

Hey, DC-area fans! I'll be at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Gaithersburg, MD this Saturday, May 17! Come see me at the following presentation (with my husband Dave!!): Raina Telgemeier & Dave Roman in Conversation Location: Willa Cather Pavilion Start time: 1:15 pm 2:15 - 3:05pm: Signing in the Politics & Prose signing area!

Hope to see you there!

I'm back from the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, which is one of my favorite events of the year, and this year was particularly amazing for me!

The first thing I did was appear on a panel with my cartooning idol, Lynn Johnston, creator of For Better or For Worse! My good friend Scott Robins hosted a panel about library visits with the two of us, and it was a lot of fun! Lynn is a HAM!

Then later that night, *I* had the honor of interviewing Lynn and Kate Beaton, of Hark! A Vagrant fame. These women are two of Canada's guiding lights of cartooning, albeit from different generations...and I was given the challenge of finding their common ground, on stage, in front of 450 people!

Luckily, you could not ask for two more gracious, generous, and funny ladies to share a stage with. I was on cloud 9 all weekend, after this event! (Again: check out that hamminess!)

And then, TCAF itself! Two days of festival goodness. I met some wonderful fans and a lot of new friends this year.

Here's YA author extraordinaire Rainbow Rowell sitting at our table, pretending to be Dave while he was off on a panel--I got to know Rainbow this weekend, and she is awesome, and I can't wait til her graphic novel with Faith Erin Hicks comes out in a few years!

I also got to see a bunch of my amazing friends this year, who came from all corners of the world (Hawaii! Florida! the UK!) to go to TCAF. It's really one of the best international comics festivals I've ever been to. I know I have a lot of fans in Ontario, and I'm super grateful how many of you came out to see me this year! It's just a big sloppy love fest, and I always go home happy.

Monday after the show, Kazu Kibuishi (creator of the Amulet series) and I got to visit the Scholastic Canada offices and hang out with some of the excellent staff there! Kazu and I will be touring North America together later this year together in support of Sisters and Amulet 6, which both hit stores August 26th... Stay tuned for more details!

Thanks to the TCAF staff and everyone in Toronto who made our weekend a memorable one!

Photo credits: Jamie Coville, Dave Roman

I'm re-posting this because some of the info has changed! (And please read all the way to the bottom of this post to find out how to win a SISTERS advance preview copy!): The Toronto Comic Arts Festival!

TCAF is one of my favorite events, and I'll be there again this year with books and art and some swanky new bookmarks to promote SISTERS! And I'll be sharing my table with Dave, who will have the minicomic debut of his new project, StarBunny, Inc! I'll be at my table all times except during my programming events (listed below), and I'm happy to sign anything you bring.

TCAF is free to attend, so Canadians: I hope you'll drop by at some point during the weekend and say hello!

Toronto Comic Arts Festival May 10-11 Toronto Reference Library Bloor & Younge Toronto, ON

My table is on the first floor, B4--here's a floor map! Look for the Astronaut Academy banner to find my table.

Programming:

Friday, May 9

9:45am Librarian & Educator Day (registration required) Panel: Great Creator Visits! What makes an author or artist visit to your library awesome? What can you do to get the most out of the time comics creators spend with kids? Renowned cartoonists Raina Telgemeier and Lynn Johnston have been guests at dozens of libraries throughout their careers. Join them as they discuss the dos and don’ts of hosting comics creators in your school or library!

7:30pm Lynn Johnston and Kate Beaton in Conversation Guest Moderator: Raina Telgemeier The Bram & Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library 789 Yonge Street, 2nd Floor Doors at 7pm. Presentation at 7:30pm. Rush line admittance at 7:20pm (event is sold out but standby tickets may be available) Two of Canada's most beloved strip cartoonists join together to discuss their careers and officially open the Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2014! Lynn Johnston and Kate Beaton have each garnered enormous followings with their unique voices and atypical cartooning beginnings. Moderated by cartoonist Raina Telgemeier.

Saturday, May 10

2:30pm Getting Real with Raina Telgemeier and Jimmy Gownley! St Pauls Church (offsite KidsDay program space--see map) 227 Bloor St E Join Raina and Jimmy for live performances from their real-life graphic novels, Smile and The Dumbest Idea Ever! Audience participation will be encouraged, so bring your best voice-acting talent! Signing to follow!

Sunday, May 11

11:30am-12:30pm Comics Quickfire! Toronto Reference Library, Beeton Auditorium, 1st Floor A fast-paced game show where volunteers are paired off with (or against) professional cartoonists in a series of fun-filled drawing challenges! Audience members will provide suggestions and add to the creation of totally improvised epic drawings! Featuring hosts Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), Alec Longstreth (Phase 7), Jason Caffoe (Explorer: Lost Islands), John Green (Teen Boat!), Frank Cammuso (Misadventures of Salem Hyde) and Raina Telgemeier (Drama)! Great for all ages!

2:45pm-3:45pm Kids Fall GN Preview With Kazu Kibuishi, Raina Telgemeier, Britt Wilson, John Martz, Paul Pope, and moderator Scott Robins! This is your chance to win a rare advance preview copy of SISTERS!! You must be in the audience of this panel in order to qualify! Marriott Rm 400

Hey, Tennessee! I've never done an event in your state before but that's about to change...

Raina Telgemeier: Visiting Artist Lecture Austin Peay State University Clarksville, TN Sundquist 106a Wednesday, April 16 7pm The event is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome.

Please note that books will NOT be for sale, but I am happy to sign any books you bring, so plan ahead! See you soon, Volunteer State!

SVA Presents: STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONISTS: A Panel Discussion Featuring Women in Comics Tuesday, April 1, 2014 7:00PM 3rd Floor Amphitheatre 209 East 23rd Street, New York City

This event brings together a diverse group of internationally recognized creators and editors for a discussion of the history and dynamics of women working in American comics. Panelists include women creators and editors of different generations including Raina Telgemeier, creator of Smile and Drama; Diane Noomin, creator of Glitz-2-Go and editor of the Twisted Sisters anthologies; Shelly Bond, Executive Editor of Vertigo comics; Alitha Martinez, a penciller and inker who has worked on Marvel’s Iron Man, X-men, Black Son, Fantastic Four, and the Black Panther and currently WWE Superstars for Papercutz. They will discuss the role of women in comic narratives, career advice, and personal history, followed by Q&A.

Registration is required and space is limited. RSVP at http://womenincomics.eventbrite.com Questions? Contact cd@sva.edu or 212-592-2370.

...and I made you guys a little video preview!!

The book will be in stores on August 26!

If you're in or near Northampton, MA, this weekend, you should come see me at MELTDOWN Family Music & Book Fest!

Location: Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School 80 Locust St. Northampton, MA Saturday, March 29 10am – 4pm FREE!! I’m presenting at 2:40pm, followed immediately by a book singing!

We had a packed house last weekend at Bergen Street Comics for our DRAWING PARTY! Thanks to all the enthusiastic families who joined us Saturday afternoon, and to the much more relaxed (but amazing nonetheless) crowd at our grown-up party in the evening. It was a blast!

And now, a few upcoming events:

MELTDOWN Family Music & Book Fest Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School 80 Locust St. Northampton, MA Saturday, March 29 10am - 4pm FREE!! I'm presenting at 2:40pm, followed immediately by a book singing!

SVA Presents: STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONISTS: A Panel Discussion Featuring Women in Comics Tuesday, April 1, 2014 7:00PM 3rd Floor Amphitheatre 209 East 23rd Street, New York City

This event brings together a diverse group of internationally recognized creators and editors for a discussion of the history and dynamics of women working in American comics. Panelists include women creators and editors of different generations including Raina Telgemeier, creator of Smile and Drama; Diane Noomin, creator of Glitz-2-Go and editor of the Twisted Sisters anthologies; Shelly Bond, Executive Editor of Vertigo comics; Alitha Martinez, a penciller and inker who has worked on Marvel's Iron Man, X-men, Black Son, Fantastic Four, and the Black Panther and currently WWE Superstars for Papercutz. They will discuss the role of women in comic narratives, career advice, and personal history, followed by Q&A. Registration is required and space is limited. RSVP at http://womenincomics.eventbrite.com Questions? Contact cd@sva.edu or 212-592-2370.

An Evening with Raina Telgemeier Austin Peay State University Sundquist 106a Clarksville, TN Wednesday, April 16 7pm FREE!

Hope to see you there!

Event, event!

Join me, Dave Roman, and Laura Lee Gulledge for a DRAWING PARTY at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn, on Saturday, March 1! 3-5pm will be a drawing party for kids, and at 7pm we'll have a party for our adult friends (although kids can come to that too, if they want).

Looking forward to it, see you there!

Here it is! The cover of my upcoming graphic novel, SISTERS!!!

The companion to Raina Telgemeier's #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling and Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir, SMILE.

Raina can't wait to be a big sister. But once Amara is born, things aren't quite how she expected them to be. Amara is cute, but she's also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself. Their relationship doesn't improve much over the years, but when a baby brother enters the picture and later, something doesn't seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.

Raina uses her signature humor and charm in both present-day narrative and perfectly placed flashbacks to tell the story of her relationship with her sister, which unfolds during the course of a road trip from their home in San Francisco to a family reunion in Colorado.

SISTERS will be in stores August 26, 2014.

Pre-order a copy now! Add it to your to-read shelf on Goodreads!