Mark Siegel
Author, Illustrator, and Founder & Creative and Editorial Director of First Second Books


Mark was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in France. He graduated from Brown and lives in New York.

Mark is the author and illustrator of several award-winning picture books and graphic novels, including SeadogsLong Night MoonTo DanceMoving House, and the NY Times bestseller Sailor Twain, which author John Irving called “a gripping novel with compelling characters, enhanced by haunting, erotically charged artwork.”

Mark’s recent collaborative graphic novel series—the NY Times bestselling 5 Worlds, is an epic science-fiction story for young readers. The New York Times Book Review hails it as “ . . . a bang-zoom start to a series that promises to be epic in both the classical and internet senses of the word. . . this is a capital-S Saga.” The fifth and final volume of the series is The Emerald Gate.

His latest project is with his wife Siena Cherson Siegel is a teen graphic memoir called Tiny Dancer.

 

Mark is also the founder, and Creative & Editorial Director of First Second Books, Macmillan’s graphic novel publishing house. First Second offers an ambitious collection in every age category, in a wide range of themes and styles, with talent from all over the world. First Second has garnered an unmatched array of literary awards, starred reviews and bestsellers—including Gene Luen YangVera Brosgol, Jen WangBen HatkeShannon HaleLeUyen PhamTillie WaldenNgozi Ukazu, and beloved bestselling titles such as The Adventure Zone, Hayao Miyazaki’sShuna’s JourneyThe Clash of Clans book seriesThis One Summer, and many more.

Mark has appeared before thousands of librarians and educators to speak about the graphic novel renaissance. He has given lectures and workshops internationally and all around North America, for authors, artists, librarians, students, executives in many venues, at tradeshows, companies, Comic Cons, and animation studios, including Blue Sky, Dreamworks, Disney, and Pixar, for creatives and executives.

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R. J. Palacio, #1 New York Times bestselling author of WONDER, hails this adventure series as “Mind-blowingly beautiful. . . . A must-read.”

Think Star Wars meets Avatar: The Last Airbender!

The Five Worlds are on the brink of extinction unless five ancient and mysterious beacons are lit. When war erupts, three unlikely heroes will discover there’s more to themselves—and to their worlds—than meets the eye. . . .

All her life, Siena has dreamed of being a ballerina. Her love of movement and her dedication to the art earned her a spot at the School of American Ballet, with hopes of becoming a member of George Balanchine’s world famous New York City Ballet company. After training for many years to be a professional dancer, her whole identity has been shaped by ballet—but her once invincible confidence is suddenly shaken by injury, and breached by doubts.

When you have spent your entire life working toward something, how do you figure out what comes next? How do you know who you are, without the thing that has always defined you? This is Siena’s moving and beautifully drawn memoir of her teenage years as a dancer struggling to find her next step—and as a young woman finding her true footing in the world.

One hundred years ago. On the foggy Hudson River, a riverboat captain rescues an injured mermaid from the waters of the busiest port in the United States. A wildly popular―and notoriously reclusive―author makes a public debut. A French nobleman seeks a remedy for a curse. As three lives twine together and race to an unexpected collision, the mystery of the Mermaid of the Hudson deepens.

Ballerinas are young when they first dream of dance. Siena was six—and her dreams kept skipping and leaping, circling and spinning, from airy runs along a beach near her home in Puerto Rico, to dance classes at the School of American Ballet, to her debut performance on stage with the New York City Ballet while working with ballet legend George Balanchine.

Part family history, part backstage drama, this beautifully updated graphic memoir—which features a refreshed design and a brand-new scrapbook of Siena’s mementoes—is an original, firsthand look a young dancer’s beginnings.

A refugee seeking sanctuary from the horrors of Kristallnacht, Oskar arrives by ship in New York City with only a photograph and an address for an aunt he has never met. It is both the seventh day of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve, 1938. As Oskar walks the length of Manhattan, from the Battery to his new home in the north of the city, he passes experiences the city's many holiday sights, and encounters it various residents. Each offers Oskar a small act of kindness, welcoming him to the city and helping him on his way to a new life in the new world. This is a heartwarming, timeless picture book.

Accomplished storytellers Kate Messner and Mark Siegel chronicle the process of becoming a reader: from pulling a book off the shelf and finding someone with whom to share a story, to reading aloud, predicting what will happen, and—finally—coming to The End. This picture book playfully and movingly illustrates the idea that the reader who discovers the love of reading finds, at the end, the beginning.

Accomplished storytellers Kate Messner and Mark Siegel playfully chronicle the process of becoming a writer in this fun follow-up to How to Read a Story, guiding young storytellers through the joys and challenges of the writing process. From choosing an idea, to creating a problem for their character to resolve, to coming to The End, this empowering picture book breaks down the writing process in a dynamic and accessible way, encouraging kids to explore their own creativity—and share their stories with others!

The fog in Foggytown was so thick that people bumped into parking meters . . . and streetlamps . . . and each other!

So Joey and Chloe's parents decide it's time to move. But Joey and Chloe love their house. And as it turns out, their house loves them . . . and has a very special and utterly fantastic way of taking matters into its own hands.

Comic- and picture-book star Mark Siegel has spun a delightful and compelling fantasy for young picture book readers, illustrated in a unique style that combines elements of traditional picture book, comic, and animation art.

Inspired by the Native American custom of naming full moons, Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant joins artist Mark Siegel and invites readers to reflect on 12 wonderful full moons and the unique nights upon which each sheds its beautiful light.

Beware! When Old Seadog decides on "one last sail," he invites his good friends Brave Beagle and Dear Dachshund along for the ride. But the sea is filled with danger -- storms rage and pirates abound! Will the three friends end up as a dog meat?

Come set sail and sing along with this boisterous canine crew. Who knows what surprises lie ahead!


Inspired by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and by classic comic books, this story is told in a series of witty song lyrics, performed by a canine cast of characters shown in a series of dramatic spreads. Full color.

The Great American Graphic Novel
Mark Siegel presents a short and entertaining history of comics in America from early pamphlets, to today’s unprecedented graphic novel renaissance. Discover the special moment we are in, and where it may be heading, and some of the extraordinary graphic novelists who belong in any well-rounded reading diet.
The Impossible Dance of Art &Business
This popular workshop has been honed all over the country. Even though it explores the creative life from the book publishing angle, it is now in demand with TV and feature animation studios. Mark discusses how to reconcile art and commerce and their inherent contradictions—in one’s life or in a project. It is a unique insight, offering tools to help both executives and creatives communicate with each other.
Living the Creative Life
For creators in any medium: Mark Siegel takes a layered look at the challenges, inner and outer, facing a creative pursuit in the world today. Mark provides unique tools, examples, and stories to encourage and nurture authors and artists in every field, drawn from his own unique experience as an editor and as an author.
Fiction and the Quest for Truth
There are a great many impulses driving people to create stories in books, in film, and on stage. Money and fame are a motivation for many; but others long to make lasting, meaningful works. For that there are other motives besides profit: what about the uplift motive? The healing motive? How about the truth motive? Whether in fiction, in art, in story, in journalism or in life—many of the greatest creations are driven by a daring love of truth.
'Making Of' Workshop: Sailor Twain
Get behind-the-scenes of making the New York Times bestselling graphic novel for adults Sailor Twain, or the Mermaid in the Hudson. Also very popular in colleges and creative venues—sharing the magic and mishaps of making a book is always entertaining and inspiring. Other workshops include making Oskar and the Eight Blessings and making 5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior, a unique collaborative series.
Graphic Novels and a New Visual Literacy
Mark Siegel's lecture features visual story mechanics, tools for the classroom, data, and resources on literacy and visual media.



Follow Mark Siegel on TwitterInstagram, and Facebook

Listen to Mark’s Wacom podcast interview, Why We Create

Listen to Mark’s podcast interview with Shot x Shot

Watch this feature about Mark Siegel and his graphic novel 5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior about ABC/Good Morning Texas

Check out an interview with Mark Siegel on comicsreporter.com

Read up on Sailor Twain in his interviews with  MTV and Publisher’s Weekly

Learn more about Mark Siegel in his interview with childrensillustrators.com

Visit Mark Siegel’s website

Visit First Second Books 

“Thank you for your inspiring and fascinating lecture and presentation. The students were deeply impressed with you. You gave them much to think about and I believe you may have changed a few lives today.”
—John Canemaker, Animation Area Head, NYU Tisch

“First Second is one of the great literary presses of the modern world.”
—boingboing.net

“The gold standard for the new graphic novel is First Second.”
—Snow Wildsmith

“The workshop, explored playful ways to communicate complex topics and demonstrated the power of the comics medium as a tool for literacy in an increasingly visual culture.”
—Edward Finn, Director, Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University