Event guidelines:

• RSVP is highly encouraged but not required.
• Additional copies of the author’s books will be available for purchase.
• As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we’ll work it out.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected].

We’re so excited to present our THIRD ANNUAL Graphic Fest with these incredible creators:

Dan Yaccarino, Veronica Agarwal, Lee Durfey-Lavoie, Debbie Fong, Rory Lucey, Jonah Newman, Andi Poretta, Carey Pietsch, Maysoon Zayid, Wendy Xu, Dave Roman, Ruth Chan, Ethan Aldridge, John Patrick Green, Mika Song, Colleen AF Venable, Benjamin Wilgus & Sharee Miller!

Stay tuned for our full schedule of panels!

Dan Yaccarino is the author and illustrator of more than fifty books for children, including Firefighter Flo! and Crane Jane!, the first book in the Big Jobs, Bold Women series, as well as the creator and producer of three animated series. He is also the character designer for the animated series The Backyardigans. Awards and honors include the Bologna Ragazzi Award, The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books, ALA Notable Children’s Books, and the Parents’ Choice Award. You may visit him at yaccarinostudio.com.

Lee Durfey-Lavoie loves role-playing games and spending time with his cat. He’s a college dropout who was able to find a career in writing.

Veronica Agarwal is a Cartoonist and Illustrator from NYC. She graduated from SVA in May 2016 with a BFA in Cartooning. She loves plants, summertime, dogs, and her three cats! Her work focuses on mental health, coming-of-age stories, and friendship.

Debbie Fong is an Ignatz-nominated comic artist and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York. She has illustrated multiple children’s nonfiction books, including the best-selling How to Be a Person. She is also the artist behind POMMO Press, an online art shop selling prints, stationery, and other fun goods.

Rory Lucey is the author-illustrator of the forthcoming graphic novel “SCRAM: The Society of Creatures Real and Magical.” He illustrated “Bad Sister” from First Second Books, as well as wrote and illustrated “Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo” from Titan Books. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Nerdist, Gizmodo, Collider, Martha Stewart Weddings, and more. Born in London and raised throughout the Midwest, he holds a B.F.A. in Printmaking from Washington University and an M.A. in Teaching from the Rhode Island School of Design. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two cats.

Jonah Newman is a cartoonist and editor who has worked in the publishing industry since 2018. At Graphix, Scholastic’s graphic novel imprint, he has worked with Dav Pilkey, Jamar Nicholas, Angeli Rafer, and many others. When he’s not creating, editing, or reading comics, you might find Jonah binge-listening to history podcasts, playing in an LGBTQ softball league, or getting way too invested in his fantasy baseball team. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband (who’s a human) and two kids (who are cats).

Andi Porretta is a Philly-born illustrator, storyteller, and rom-com watcher. She studied illustration and design at Pratt Institute and currently resides in Brooklyn with her best friends and pet cat. When she isn’t drawing, you might find Andi at her local coffee shop, palling around, or missing her subway stop (again). Ready or Not is her debut graphic novel.

Carey Pietsch is a cartoonist based out of Brooklyn, NY. Her work includes drawing two arcs of Lumberjanes and the artwork for the Mages of Mystralia webcomic. Carey also makes Keepsakes and other original comics about magic and empathy. Along with brightening her workdays, The Adventure Zone got her to join a D&D campaign, where she’s currently playing a dragonborn sorcerer who cares too much about romance novels.

Maysoon Zayid is a comedian, actress, writer, and disability advocate. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and a Princeton Fellow. Maysoon is the co-founder/co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. As a professional comedian, Maysoon has sold out top New York clubs and has toured extensively at home and abroad. She was a headliner on the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Together Live Tour. Maysoon has also appeared alongside Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan and has written for Glamour magazine. She is the author of the best-selling memoir Find Another Dream. To learn more visit this page.

Wendy Xu is a Brooklyn-based illustrator and comics artist with several upcoming graphic novels from HarperCollins. She is the co-creator of Mooncakes, a young adult fantasy graphic novel published in 2019 by Lion Forge Comics/Oni Press, nominated for Hugo, Ignatz, and GoodReads Choice Awards. Her work has been featured on Catapult, B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, and Tor.com, among other places. Visit her online at artofwendyxu.com.

Dave Roman is the author/illustrator of the Astronaut Academy series (winner of Maryland’s Black-Eyed Susan Book Award) and writer of the graphic novel Teen Boat! Race for Boatlantis (with John Patrick Green) and Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery. He has contributed stories and art to Goosebumps Graphix: Slappy’s Tales of Horror, Nursery Rhyme Comics, and the Flight series. Roman is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, a former editor at Nickelodeon Magazine, and is currently the editor for First Second’s Science Comics and History Comics ongoing series of nonfiction graphic novels. He lives in New York City and draws a webcomic called Starbunny, Inc.

Ruth Chan is an illustrator and author who spent her childhood tobogganing in Canada, her teens in Hong Kong and China, several years studying art and education, and a decade working with youth and families in underserved communities. She now writes and illustrates children’s books and comics in Brooklyn NY and remains a proud Canadian. Instagram/Twitter: @ohtruth ohtruth.com

Ethan M. Aldridge is a New York Times bestselling illustrator and author. He was raised in a very small town in Utah. Growing up, his favorite things to draw were ghosts, monsters, and whatever dinosaur he liked most that week. He now does more or less the same thing for a living. Ethan lives in New York City with his husband, Matthew, and their dog, Kitsune. Visit him online at ethanaldridge.weebly.com.

John Patrick Green is a human with the human job of making books about animals with human jobs, notably the smash-hit graphic novel series InvestiGators. John is a multiple New York Times-bestselling human author and not just a bunch of animals in a trench coat pretending to have a human job. With over a million copies of InvestiGators in print, John is a successful human being with only two hands and a normal amount of fur. He lives in a Brooklyn apartment that doesn’t allow animals other than the ones living in his head.

Mika Song is a Filipino and Japanese-American children’s writer and illustrator who has written several books for early readers. She grew up in Manila, Philippines, and Honolulu, Hawaii. She now lives in Queens, New York where she runs a comics club at her local art store. She is the co-creator of sundayhaha.com, a weekly collection of online comics for kids.

Colleen AF (Ann Felicity) Venable is the author of many books and was longlisted for a National Book Award for her YA graphic novel, Kiss Number 8. When she’s not writing, she can be found working at animal rescues.

Benjamin A. Wilgus is a cartoonist and writer of comics and prose, including Chronin, a graphic novel duology from Tor Books. He has also written two works of graphic nonfiction for First Second Books: Flying Machines: How the Wright Brothers Soared, illustrated by Molly Brooks, and The Mars Challenge, illustrated by Wyeth Yates.Sharee Miller is the author and illustrator of Princess Hair, Don’t Touch My Hair!, and Michelle’s Garden, all published by LBYR. She is also the illustrator of The Shai and Emmie series written by Quvenzhané Wallis and Nancy Ohlin and Sam’s Super Seats,by Keah Brown. She lives in Jersey City with her spouse, son, and two cats, Pumpkin and Spice!

Time: 11:00 am — 3:00 pm EST

Free!

Registration