Raina Telgemeier
Raina Diane Telgemeier (/'ɹeɪna 'tɛlgə'maɪəɹ/, born May 26, 1977) is an American cartoonist. Her works include the autobiographical webcomic "Smile", which was published as a full-color graphic novel in February 2010, and the follow-up "Sisters" and the fiction graphic novel "Drama", all of which have been on "The New York Times" Best Seller lists. She has also written and illustrated the graphic novels "Ghosts" and "Guts" as well as four graphic novels adapted from "The Baby-Sitters Club" stories by Ann M. Martin. Early life. Telgemeier was born on May 26, 1977 in San Francisco and  grew up there. She has two younger siblings, Amara and William. According to Telgemeier, she knocked out two front teeth while in sixth grade and needed braces and a lot of surgery as a result. Also according to Telgemeier, she attended Lowell High School in San Francisco. Telgemeier studied illustration at New York's School of Visual Arts; according to Telgemeier, she graduated in 2002. Career. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts, Telgemeier began attending small-press festivals such as the MoCCA Festival, selling self-published autobiographical stories and vignettes from her life. She produced seven mini-comics  issues in the "Take-Out" series between 2002 and 2005. Each was a twelve-page black-and-white comic. Other early works include a short story in "Bizarro World" for DC Comics and a short story in Volume 4 of the "Flight" anthology. In 2004, Telgemeier joined Girlamatic, a subscription-based webcomics site dedicated to female writers. Telgemeier has said that the disciplined structure and schedule of publishing a weekly webcomic encouraged her to develop the autobiographical story "Smile". Her main breakthrough into published comics came from creating graphic novel adaptations of "Baby-Sitters Club" novels. In a piece for  Cosmopolitan, Telgemeier said that she met an editor from Scholastic at an art gallery party in 2004 who mentioned that Scholastic was thinking of setting up a graphic novel imprint. At that year's San Diego Comic-Con, Telgemeier met that editor's boss, who invited her to pitch an idea for Scholastic. After Telgemeier mentioned she had been a fan of Ann M. Martin's "The Baby-Sitters Club" series, they asked her to work up a graphic novel adaptation. Scholastic, though its imprint Graphix went on to publish four graphic novels in the series: "Kristy's Great Idea , The Truth About Stacey", "Mary Anne Saves the Day", and "Claudia and Mean Janine". According to Telgemeier, the advances for the adaptations allowed Telgemeier to quit her full-time job and concentrate on her art, and she completed the fourth "Baby-Sitters Club" novel in 2008. In 2009, Del Rey Manga released "", which Telgemeier co-authored with her then-husband, Dave Roman. It spent at least five weeks on the "New York Times" bestseller list for Paperback Graphic Books. In February 2010, Telgemeier released a print graphic novel version of her webcomic "Smile". "Smile" first featured on a "New York  Times" bestseller list in 2011 and as of October 2020 it is still on the "New York Times" Bestseller List for Graphic Books and Manga. Telgemeier followed "Smile" with several original graphic novels, all of which have made a "New York Times" Bestseller List: Telgemeier has continued to contribute to anthologies, including "Nursery Rhyme Comics" (2011, First Second), "Fairy Tale Comics" (2013, First Second); the "Explorer" graphic novel series (2012, 2013, Abrams/Amulet); and "Comics Squad: Recess!" (2014, Random House). Of her work, Telgemeier said, "I'm more aware than ever of what I want to say to kids through  my books[, which is that] it's going to be O.K. That everybody, with just a little bit of talking and a little bit of empathy, can find out that they have a lot in common." In 2021, Salt & Straw partnered with Scholastic Inc. and made a line of Comics themed ice creams. Telgemeier's ice cream flavor was called "Smile: Words & Pictures" which Salt & Straw said was "A pencil-inspired yellow and pink almond-infused sponge cake and Stracciatella “pencil shavings<nowiki>"</nowiki> are strewn about a notebook paper-esque canvas, in this case trusty vanilla ice cream ." Reception. As of 2019, Telgemeier's books collectively have more than 18 million copies in print. According to David Saylor, publisher at Graphix, "Raina single-handedly created the market for middle-grade graphic memoir". Telgemeier's work has won several awards and nominations, including five Eisner Awards, and has been included on many lists of recommended books. Recommendation lists and bestseller lists. All five of her original graphic novels have made a "The New York Times" Best Seller list, as has at least one of her "Baby-Sitters Club" adaptations and "X-Men: Misfits". On May 10, 2015, the top  four books on "The New York Times" Best Seller list for paperback graphic books were all by Telgemeier: "Drama", "Smile", "Sisters", and "Kristy's Great Idea". "Smile" first featured on a "New York Times" bestseller list in 2011 and as of October 2020 it is still on the "New York Times" Bestseller List for Graphic Books and Manga. In 2017, Telgemeier was named the "Most Important Comics Creator" by Comics Worth Reading who cited her bookscan numbers, copies sold, and influence on the modern comics market as reasons why. Challenges and bans. According to the ALA, "Drama" was among the  top ten most challenged book in libraries and schools in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019. Reasons given for challenges and bans have included having LGBTQIA+ content and characters, sexually explicit content, an "offensive political viewpoint", being "confusing", and for concerns that it goes against “family values/morals”. Personal life. Telgemeier was married to fellow cartoonist Dave Roman; they married in 2006 but they filed for divorce in 2015. She currently lives in San Francisco, California. She has lived in Astoria, New York. Bibliography. Contributions to anthologies. "Bizarro World HC" (DC Comics, 2005) "Flight, Vol. 4" (2007) "Nursery Rhyme Comics" (First  Second, 2011) "Fairy Tale Comics" (First Second, 2013) The "Explorer" graphic novel series (Abrams/Amulet, 2012, 2013) "Comics Squad: Recess!" (Random House, 2014)