first second 10th anniversary

In 2006, First Second Books emerged as a fledging publisher with a distribution deal with Macmillan. Over the subsequent ten years the publisher has introduced American readers to international talents; promoted the work of new cartoonists to a wide audience; and produced some of the most talked-about books of recent years, including Laika,Boxers and Saints, The Sculptor and This One Summer. All this week we've been speaking to some of the cartoonists associated with First Second about their last ten years in the industry, including Sara Varon, George O'Connor, and James Sturm. Today, however, we're talking to one of the architects of First Second's continued success, senior editor Calista Brill, about how she came to the company, what her job involves, and what it is that defines First Second.

As original graphic novel publisher First Second celebrates its tenth anniversary, we’re talking to some of the cartoonists and creators associated with the publisher to reflect on their work over the last ten years. Today we speak to James Sturm, one of the most established and respected cartoonists in the business. Sturm's comics include early '90s work for Fantagraphics and Drawn and Quarterly and acclaimed graphic novels such as The Golem's Mighty Swing, Market Day and Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow. In the last decade, he has become known as much for being an educator of cartoonists as for being a cartoonist himself, having co-founded the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont in 2005. His work for First Second includes the Adventures In Cartooning series, created with two of his CCS student.

As original graphic novel publisher First Second celebrates its tenth anniversary, we're talking to some of the cartoonists and creators associated with the publisher to reflect on their work over the last ten years. Today we talk to George O'Connor, who has been working with First Second since shortly before there even was a First Second. O'Connor is best known for his sweeping Olympians series, which devotes a volume to each of the major gods of Greek mythology. The series is in many ways quintessentially First Second; it's at educational non-fiction, but compulsively readable, beautifully illustrated and, of course, all-ages. The irony is that it started life at a different publisher, as O'Connor explains.

To mark First Second's ten year anniversary, ComicsAlliance is spending this week talking to cartoonists, creators and talents associated with the publisher, to look back at their own past ten years in the industry. Today we speak to Sara Varon, a cartoonist, children's picture book author, and illustrator who has been with First Second since the publisher's inception. She created two original graphic novels for First Second, Robot Dreams and Bake Sale; she collaborated with writer Cecil Castellucci on another, Odd Duck; and First Second just republished a new version of her short story collection Sweaterweather, and will publishing Varon's next work as well. In addition to her comics work, Varon has published two picture books for Scholastic Press: Chicken and Cat and Chicken and Cat Clean Up.