Can you illustrate my picture book?
Possibly, but it’s hard to say! There are always a number of considerations – timing, the number of books in the pipeline, whether I feel well-suited for the subject matter or not, etc. If you have a publisher, please contact Kirsten Hall with Catbird Agency for book-related inquiries. Regretfully, I’m unable to take on any projects that don’t have a publisher.
What/when is your next book coming out?
My next book, Remember, will publish March 21, 2023 (Random House Studio). It is based on a beautiful poem written by Joy Harjo that invites us to explore who and where we come from. This means different things for different people – which is a wondrous thing! – but the book is also a celebration of our shared humanity and interconnectedness.
My author-illustrator debut, Berry Song, published in July 2022 and received a Caldecott Honor. It was inspired by one of my absolute favorite things to do: wild berry picking. Berry Song follows a young girl and her grandma as they venture out onto the land in search of tleikw, or berries. The book is full of juicy berry goodness and forest magic inspired by my childhood picking berries on Lingít Aaní, also known as Southeast Alaska. I layered in different themes – the importance of traditional food gathering activities, the passing on of ancestral knowledge and values, the cycle of life, our intertwining relationship to each other and to the land rooted in respect, reciprocity and balance. In the end, I wanted to communicate love and gratitude for the land that raised me while inviting readers to nurture their own relationship to the land.
Can you speak to my class, school, organization, conference?
Maybe! For school visit or speaking engagement inquiries, please email Chloe Volkwein with Macmillan Speaker’s Bureau at chloe.volkwein@macmillan.com for info regarding availability and rates.
Where can I purchase your books?
I always recommend supporting your local bookshops if possible or with a group like Bookshop! Another great option is to shop with Indigenous-owned businesses like Birchbark Books or Red Planet Comics.
My local bookshop, Old Harbor Books in Sitka, AK, is yet another wonderful option especially if you are interested in signed copies.
For earlier books that I illustrated with Sealaska Heritage Institute as part of their Baby Raven Reads series – a grant-funded program aimed at promoting early literacy, language development and school readiness for our Native youth in Southeast AK – I recommend shopping with them directly here.
What mediums do you work in?
I work primarily with watercolor and like to experiment with adding gouache, colored pencil, pastel pencil and digital techniques into the mix. It’s an ever-changing process and each book calls for a unique approach.
How did you become an illustrator?
I was involved in the arts from a young age, whether it was painting and drawing or piano, singing or musical theater. I loved it all! Growing up in Juneau, Alaska, I attended various after-school programs, summer camps, extra art classes, etc. I credit my parents with the opportunities and encouragement, a local community that was very supportive of the arts, and my artistic older sister who let me follow her around and copy whatever she was drawing in her sketchbook. I filled notebooks with stories about fairies and elves and magical places, and filled sketchbooks with doodles and dreams.
In my freshman year at university, I was turned down by the arts college. Disheartened but not dissuaded, I transferred to a different, smaller college where I could dabble in many creative and academic pursuits. I found a home in the arts school, where I was able to take classes in painting and printmaking, create self-initiated coursework in digital illustration (the college didn’t have an illustration program), and specialize in graphic design with a minor in marketing. I knew I wanted a creative career, but I had NO idea what that looked like at the time. I felt that graphic design would give me a leg up after graduation, and I genuinely loved the field (and still do!).
For a couple years post-graduation, I worked with a wonderful small agency in Anchorage, Alaska as a graphic designer and eventually art director. It was a great learning experience but at some point, I realized I needed more creative autonomy in my life and wanted to return home to Southeast Alaska. I made the leap into full-time freelance and moved home. In a fortuitous aligning of the universe, Sealaska Heritage Institute, a local cultural/tribal organization, had put out a call for Tribal member artists to collaborate on their Baby Raven Reads picture book series. The grant-funded series of books aimed to tell Native stories by Native people for Native people. I worked with them on four books over the course of 2017-2018, and that time period became a bit of a crash course in picture book illustration, and we were all learning together. Those projects were a safe place to study a craft while working on important and beautiful stories set in the lands that inspire me everyday. I am so grateful for those early, local opportunities.
The first book I illustrated, Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy, went on to win the 2018 Best Picture Book Award from the American Indian Library Association. It was a huge surprise! That recognition led me to Susan Rich, an editor with Little, Brown, and not long after that I signed with an agent, Kirsten Hall with Catbird Agency, and my first contract with a major trade publisher. The second book I signed was We Are Water Protectors with Mekisha Telfer at Roaring Brook Press, which went on to win the 2021 Caldecott Medal.
It’s been a whirlwind dive into the world of illustration and picture books, and I am still learning with every project. Some days I don’t quite understand how I got here, many days I struggle with imposter syndrome, and then there are the lovely days when the skies clear and everything flows as it should. I love this work and am incredibly grateful to be here.