The Frankfurt Kids Conference has a new dedicated space for children’s and YA books this year, in Hall 4.0. Inaugurating the Imagination Stage is middle grade graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier, whose books have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide.
How do your current projects relate to the conference theme of “Rewriting the Future”?
I’ve been working on a graphic novel adaptation of a book from the 1980s: Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club Super Special: Babysitters on Board. Gale Galligan and I split up the characters and the chapters and went back and forth. I started doing the graphic adaptations of The Baby-Sitters Club 20 years ago, and then went into retirement so that I could work on my personal projects. Working on this series again has felt like coming back to my own past, while also bringing it into the modern age.
How have attitudes toward comics changed over the course of your career?
I was making comics when there was nowhere to put them on the bookshelf. It was my hobby as a kid, but I didn’t have any peers who were interested in them. Then the internet came along. I found the indie comics scene and started self-publishing. That didn’t translate to a way to earn a living, so I thought, Okay, I’ll be an illustrator. Right as my career in children’s books was beginning, publishers started getting interested in comics. The timing worked out, as Scholastic was starting its Graphix imprint. I started adapting the Baby-Sitters Club, and I was also developing my project Smile. As others started publishing their work, then we had a little section on the bookshelf, and then suddenly there was a graphic novel shelf. I don’t like to ever think that it was just one book or one person.
How do you feel about the view that comics can be a gateway to other forms of reading?
I was the kid who liked to read and fell hard for comics and graphic novels. There are still people who expect kids to get into reading, then “graduate” to “real books.” My attitude is that that love for learning, knowledge, and spending time with their nose in a paper product is what we’re all after. Reading can lead you so many places. Let kids love what they love.
What are you hearing from kids about their own interests in writing and drawing?
They are so excited to make things and to tell stories. A lot of times, they tell me I’ve inspired them to write down their experiences. Maybe they will share it with somebody else, and that person will feel seen. Writing is a gift that we can
continue to give.
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A version of this article appeared in the 09/21/<a href="https://comicvibe.com/philly-fringe-2026-die/” title=”Philly Fringe 2026: Die”>2026 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Raina Telgemeier
