Mark Siegel
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 Seadogs, Long Night Moon, To Dance, Moving 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 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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The tenth anniversary edition of Mark Siegel's New York Times–bestselling "haunting Gilded Age graphic novel about love, lust, and mermaids." (The Today Show)
When a riverboat captain rescues an injured mermaid from the waters of the busiest port in the United States, he unleashes a calamity that only true love—if such a thing is...Read More
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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 Twitter, Instagram, 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 marksiegelbooks
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 UniversityOther Speakers
Poet, Author, Activist