Sara Varon is a

graphic novelist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

and illustrator best known for her work in children's literature. She is the author of the book ''Robot Dreams''.

Early life

Varon grew up in the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

suburbs, and later attended the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, graduating in 2002. As of 2006, she lived in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

. Varon is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts.

Career

Varon's characters are entirely non-human — she claims to be bad at drawing people — except in her book ''My Pencil and Me'' where she draws herself. Her characters often form unlikely friendships — cats and chickens, cupcakes and eggplants — which combine to form what the ''New York Times'' calls "endearing, uncommon narratives." Varon a series of

alebrijes Alebrijes () are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical (fantasy/mythical) creatures. Description The monos de madera or alebrijes as they are called in Spanish were originally created by carver Manuel Jimenez but soon bec ...

of some of her cartoon characters in collaboration with a

Oaxaca ) , population_note = , population_rank = 10th , timezone1 = CST , utc_offset1 = −6 , timezone1_DST = CDT , utc_offset1_DST = −5 , postal_code_type = Postal ...

n artist. She has also made traditional-style

Turkish carpets Anatolian rug is a term of convenience, commonly used today to denote rugs and carpets woven in Anatolia and its adjacent regions. Geographically, its area of production can be compared to the territories which were historically dominated by the ...

with images of her characters.

Personal life

As of June 2006, Varon lives in

. She is married and her husband is Guyanese.

Honors and awards

Varon's book ''Sweaterweather'' (2003) was a 2004

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that we ...

nominee for Best Graphic Novel. Varon's book ''Robot Dreams'' (2007) landed on many 2007 and 2008 "best-of" lists, including: *

Oprah's Book Club Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new book, usually a novel, for viewers ...

YALSA The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...

Great Graphic Novels *

NYPL NYPL or N.Y.P.L. may refer to: * New York–Penn League, a minor baseball league in the northeastern United States * New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million ...

Book for the Teen Age * NYPL Book for Reading and Sharing * Bank Street Book of Outstanding Merit * NCTE Notable Children's Book in the English Language Arts *

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 ...

Notable Children's Book * ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' 150 Best Books of the Year * '' Kirkus Reviews'' Best Children's Books of 2007 * Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon title ''Bake Sale'' (2011) was named a YALSA Great Graphic Novel for 2012 and selected by the ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'' as one of the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2011. In addition, it was a ''

Junior Library Guild Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samuel W. Craig and H ...

'' Fall 2011 Selection. Varon was a recipient of the

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...

Fellowship in 2013. Her and

Cecil Castellucci Cecil C. Castellucci (born October 25, 1969 in New York City), also known as Cecil Seaskull, is an American-born Canadian young adult novelist, indie rocker, and director. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Biography Castellucci gre ...

's book ''Odd Duck'' (2013) was a

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

nominee. In addition, it was named by ''

'' as one of the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2013, and '' Kirkus Reviews'' named it one of the Best Children's Books of 2013. ''Odd Duck'' was a Spring 2013 Selection of the

. Translated into French as ''Des canards trop bizarres'', it won the 2015 Livrentête Prize in France. Varon's book ''New Shoes'' (2018) was selected as one of the books features in the

Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is a museum devoted to the art of the picture book and especially the children's book. It is a member of Museums10 and is adjacent to the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Carle was ...

's exhibit ''Out of the Box'' in 2019. Her book ''Hold Hands'' (2019) was selected as a

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read ...

Notable Children's Book of the Year in 2019.

Bibliography

* ''Sweaterweather & Other Short Stories'' (2003) * ''Chicken and Cat'' (2006) * ''The Present'' (2005) * ''Robot Dreams'' (2007) * ''Chicken and Cat Clean Up'' (2009) * ''Bake Sale'' (2011) * (with

) ''Odd Duck'' (2013) * (with Aaron Reynolds) ''President Squid'' (2016) * ''New Shoes'' (2018) * ''Hold Hands'' (2019) * ''My Pencil and Me'' (2020)

References

External links

* Female comics writers American female comics artists American graphic novelists Living people Artists from Illinois School of Visual Arts alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-comics-creator-stub