Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
) is known both as an author, illustrator, and as the
editorial director
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
of
First Second Books
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It als ...
, a
Macmillan
MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to:
People
* McMillan (surname)
* Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan
* Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician
* James MacMillan, Scottish composer
* William Duncan MacMillan ...
imprint which publishes
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
s for all ages. He grew up in France until the age of 18, after which he moved back to the United States where he presently lives.
Career
Published works
His books in print to date include ''Seadogs, An Epic Ocean Operetta'' (on a script by children's author Lisa Wheeler), ''Long Night Moon'' (on a script by author
Cynthia Rylant
Cynthia Rylant (born June 6, 1954) is an American author and librarian. She has written more than 100 children's books, including works of fiction (picture books, short stories and novels), nonfiction, and poetry. Several of her books have won ...
), ''To Dance'' (on a script by his wife Siena Cherson Siegel), ''Moving House'', his first picture book as author and illustrator.
He also illustrated ''Oskar and the Eight Blessings'' (on a script by Tanya and Richard Simon), winner of the 2015
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. and ''How to Read a Story'' (on a script by Kate Messner.)
Siegel is the author of the graphic novel for adults '' Sailor Twain, or the Mermaid in the Hudson'' (2012), which was serialized online starting in 2010, a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' Bestseller. A 10th Anniversary edition of ''Sailor Twain'' was published in 2022, in a larger format and with additional back matter on the making of the work.
In 2017, Siegel launched the ''5 Worlds'' graphic novel series, a five-volume science fiction story co-written with his brother Alexis Siegel, and illustrated with Matt Rockefeller, Xanthe Bouma, and Boya Sun.
*Book one: ''The Sand Warrior (2017)''
*Book two: ''The Cobalt Prince'' (2018)
*Book three: ''The Red Maze'' (2019)
*Book four: ''The Amber Anthem'' (2020)
*Book five: ''The Emerald Gate'' (2022)
In 2020, he and Kate Messner released a sequel to their picture book ''How to Read a Story'', called ''How to Write a Story''.
In 2022, another collaboration with his wife Siena Cherson Siegel came out, the graphic novel memoir for young adults ''Tiny Dancer'.''
First Second Books, graphic novel publisher
Siegel is also the founder and Editorial & Creative Director of
First Second Books
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It als ...
, a
Macmillan
MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to:
People
* McMillan (surname)
* Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan
* Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician
* James MacMillan, Scottish composer
* William Duncan MacMillan ...
publisher of graphic novels for all ages. First Second publishes works by many acclaimed authors and artists, including
Ben Hatke
Ben Hatke (born June 4, 1977, in Lafayette, Indiana) is an American cartoonist and children's book illustrator. He is most well known for his series of middle grade graphic novels ''Zita the Spacegirl''. His work is notable for its focus on stron ...
,
Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang (Chinese Traditional: 楊謹倫, Simplified: 杨谨伦, Pinyin: ''Yáng Jǐnlún''; born August 9, 1973) is an American cartoonist. He is a frequent lecturer on the subjects of graphic novels and comics, at comic book conventions a ...
,
Jillian Tamaki
Jillian Tamaki (born April 17, 1980) is a Canadian American illustrator and comic artist known for her work in ''The New York Times'' and ''The New Yorker'' in addition to the graphic novels ''Boundless'', as well as ''Skim (comics), Skim'' and ' ...
,
Vera Brosgol
Vera Brosgol, also known as the Verabee (born August 2, 1984, in Moscow), is an Eisner Award and Harvey Award winning cartoonist and a graduate in Classical Animation of Sheridan College in Canada. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon. She wor ...
,
Jen Wang
Jennifer Sheena "Jen" Wang (born March 22, 1984) is an American cartoonist, writer and illustrator based in Los Angeles. Wang has published graphic books including ''Koko Be Good,'' ''In Real Life'' (with Cory Doctorow), and '' The Prince and th ...
,
Shannon Hale
Shannon may refer to:
People
* Shannon (given name)
* Shannon (surname)
* Shannon (American singer), stage name of singer Shannon Brenda Greene (born 1958)
* Shannon (South Korean singer), British-South Korean singer and actress Shannon Arrum Wil ...
,
LeUyen Pham
LeUyen Pham (born September 7, 1973) is a children's book illustrator and author. She has illustrated and written more than 120 books. In 2020, she won a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in the book '' Bear Came Along''.
Life and career
Pham ...
, and the legendary Japanese director
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
.
In 2006,
First Second
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It als ...
published ''
American Born Chinese American-born Chinese are the subset of Chinese Americans who were born in the US.
The term may also refer to:
* ''ABC'' (Jin album), a Cantonese language album by Chinese American rapper Jin, the name of which is the colloquially used acronym of ...
'' by
Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang (Chinese Traditional: 楊謹倫, Simplified: 杨谨伦, Pinyin: ''Yáng Jǐnlún''; born August 9, 1973) is an American cartoonist. He is a frequent lecturer on the subjects of graphic novels and comics, at comic book conventions a ...
, the first graphic novel ever nominated for a
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
, and the first ever to win the
American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
This One Summer
''This One Summer'' is a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki published by First Second Books in 2014. It is a coming of age story about two teenage friends, Rose and Windy, during a summer in Awago, a small be ...
'' by the cousins
Jillian
Jillian is both a feminine given name and a surname. A spelling variant of Gillian, it originates as a feminine form of the given name Julian, Julio, Julius, and Julien.
Notable people with the name include:
Given name
* Jillian Armenante (bo ...
and
Mariko Tamaki
Mariko Tamaki (born 1975) is a Canadian artist and writer. She is known for her graphic novels '' Skim'', ''Emiko Superstar,'' and ''This One Summer'', and for several prose works of fiction and non-fiction."Mariko Tamaki". CBC Radio, '' The Next ...
, the first book in any format ever nominated as a finalist for ''both'' the American Library Association's
Randolph Caldecott
Randolph Caldecott (; 22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were pro ...
Award, and the American Library Association's Edward L. Printz Award.
Some of First Second's biggest hits include
The Adventure Zone
''The Adventure Zone'' is a weekly comedy and adventure actual play podcast based loosely upon the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game series, along with other role-playing games. The show is distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brother ...
lecture
A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical inform ...
s and
workshop
Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...
s around North America, for authors, artists,
librarian
A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users.
The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...
s,
student
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution.
In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...
trade shows
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and cu ...
animation studio
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals ...
DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to:
* DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin
** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio
** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...
,
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
, and
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
.
Awards
*In 2006, Siegel won the Texas Bluebonnet Award for ''Seadogs, An Epic Ocean Operetta'', written by Lisa Wheeler.
*In 2007, Siegel and his wife, Siena Cherson Siegel, won a Sibert Honor for ''To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel''.
*In 2015, Siegel and co-authors Tanya and Richard Simon won the
Jewish National Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.
*In 2017, the New York Public Library selected 5 Worlds: ''The Sand Warrior'' in its Top Ten Best Books for Kids of 2017.