Raina Telgemeier

Personal life

Telgemeier was born May 26, 1977, in San Francisco. She has two younger siblings Amara and Will Telgemeier (according to Smile and Sisters). In her pre-teen years, Telgemeier suffered a serious mouth injury that required several years of dental and orthodontic surgery (which is described in her 2010 graphic novel Smile). She was viciously teased by her friends, prompting her to partially withdraw into her love of drawing until she lost her patience with the abuse when they publicly humiliated her. She eventually found new friends of better character in high school who appreciated her artistic talent, increasing her confidence. With that encouragement, she studied illustration at New York's School of Visual Arts, and currently lives in San Francisco, California. Previously, she lived in Astoria, New York. She lists Jeff Smith, Lynn Johnston and Adrian Tomine among her influences.

Career

Telgemeier's works include a series of self-published mini-comics called Take-Out, a short story in Bizarro World for DC Comics, a short story in Volume 4 of the Flight anthology, and four graphic novel adaptations of Ann M. Martin's The Baby-sitters Club series for Scholastic/Graphix: Kristy's Great Idea, The Truth About Stacey, Mary Anne Saves the Day, and Claudia and Mean Janine.

In August 2009, Del Rey Manga released X-Men: Misfits, which Telgemeier co-authored with her then husband, Dave Roman.

In February 2010, Telgemeier released Smile.

In September 2012, her graphic novel Drama about a middle school stage crew and performers was released.

In August 2014, her second autobiographical graphic novel, Sisters, about her life growing up with her younger sister, was released.

In August 2016, Ghosts was released, which is about a girl and her family moving to a new town, and the girl seeing ghosts and celebrating Day of the Dead.

Reception

Telgemeier was nominated for the 2005 Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition, and the 2003 Ignatz Award in the categories of Promising New Talent and Outstanding Mini-comic. She was awarded Friends of Lulu's Kimberly Yale Award for Best New Talent in 2003. She has twice been nominated for the Web Cartoonists' Choice Award for Outstanding Slice-of-Life webcomic, for her webcomic Smile (A Dental Drama). In 2015, she won the Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist for her graphic novel Sisters.

The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novel Kristy's Great Idea was picked by YALSA for their 2007 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, as well as ALA ’s Booklist 2007 Top Ten Graphic Novels for Youth list.

Smile, her graphic novel based on her webcomic is a 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor title. This is the first time a graphic novel has been nominated for or won this award. Smile was a 2010 New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2010, a 2011 ALA Notable Children's Book, a 2011 YALSA Top 10 Great Graphic Novels for Teens pick, and a Children's Choice Book Award Finalist. In 2011, the book won the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens.

Drama won the 2013 Stonewall Book Award Honor, which is an award from the American Library Association that recognizes authors who discuss homosexual, bi-sexual, and transgender-related topics in their works.

Sisters was a 2014 New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.

On May 10, 2015, four of Telgemeier's books (Drama, Smile, Sisters, and Kristy's Great Idea) took all of the top on The New York Times Best Seller list for paperback graphic books.