Innosanto Nagara
Innosanto Nagara is a children's author, activist, and graphic designer. He is the author of the alphabet book A is for Activist as well as the other children's books Counting on Community, My Night in the Planetarium, and the newly released The Wedding Portrait. He is also the founder of Design Action Collective, a self-described Marxist organization that believes "capitalism is an inherently exploitative and alienating system and that socialism presents a positive alternative." As well, the Design Action Collective believes "the US government is the main impediment to peace and justice on a global scale" and, as of 2010, actively supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights’.
Innosanto Nagara
- Name
- Innosanto Nagara
- Birthplace
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Occupation
- Writer, illustrator, graphic designer
- Education
- Masters in zoology and philosophy
- Nationality
- Indonesia
- Fields
- children's and young adult literature · book illustration · graphic design · activism
- Known for
- A is for Activist
- Languages
- Indonesian · English
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Innosanto Nagara. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q37979979 · wikipedia · Innosanto Nagara
In this article
Biography
Biography
According to NPR, Nagara began writing children's books upon realizing that he could not find "a fun book" that "talked about the importance of social justice."
Innosanto Nagara studied at University of California, Davis. The recorded working language is Indonesian and English. The field of work recorded is children's and young adult literature, book illustration and graphic design. Works named in the authority record are A is for Activist.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Innosanto Nagara • Birthplace — Jakarta, Indonesia • Occupation — Writer, illustrator, graphic designer • Education — Masters in zoology and philosophy • Alma Mater — UC Davis • Genre — Children's books • Notableworks — A is for Activist • Children — Arief Romero
Career
Career
Nagara was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, and moved to the US in 1988. He studied zoology and philosophy at UC Davis, after graduating he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked as a graphic designer for a range of social change organizations, before founding the Design Action Collective, a worker-owned cooperative design studio in Oakland, California. A is for Activist, Nagara's first children's book, was published by Seven Stories Press’ children's imprint Triangle Square in 2013. In 2015 Counting on Community was published, described by Publishers Weekly as "a counting book that celebrates active communities" and emphasized "that close-knit communities...have real power." It was followed by My Night in the Planetarium in 2016, based on a night when Nagara and his mother hid from the police in a planetarium. The Wedding Portrait is Nagara's next book, based on the events surrounding his own wedding day, was published in October 2017. He illustrated the 2021 children's book Together, authored by Mona Damluji.
Reception
Nagara's A is for Activist has received acclaim for its "progressive message [which] has made its way into material aimed at little ones" in a particularly unique and straightforward manner. The Washington Post likewise published an interview with Innosanto Nagara in its parenting section discussing the necessity of progressive messages in young children. An American Library Association review of A is for Activist took issue with the introduction of complex issues at the level of an alphabet book, pointed out that families "may need to undergo hours of explanation and long, ongoing conversations about ideas raised on every single page." Counting on Community was favorably reviewed by Kirkus Reviews ("a difficult concept is simply and strikingly illustrated for the very youngest"), Publishers Weekly ("Nagara's vibrant digital collages hum with energy"), and the School Library Journal ("powerful concept.... young readers will have fun"). My Night in the Planetarium received positive reviews from Publishers Weekly, who said it was "a stirring tribute to the power of the arts to challenge injustice," and Rethinking Schools, whose Rachel Cloues said that the "engaging art, humor, and a warm, colloquial style" made it a "gift" for "helping parents and educators explain complex issues to our children." Brandon Greene, writing for HuffPost, asked readers "what books are you using to prepare your children?"
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Innosanto Nagara, revision 1369575110 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.La Ferla, Ruth. Children's Primers Court the Littlest Radicals. The New York Times. 30 June 2017.
- 2.Hill, Corey. A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara. Yes! Magazine. 14 November 2012.
- 3.designaction.org. Design Action Collective. 5 March 2013.
- 4.designaction.org. Design Action Collective. 5 March 2013.
- 5.Lattimore, Kayla. Summer Reading for Your Woke Kid. NPR. 6 July 2017.
- 6.aisforactivist.com. Innosanto Nagara | A is for Activist.
- 7.Lodge, Sally. Seven Stories Board Books Address Social Justice. Publishers Weekly. 28 July 2015.
- 8.penguinrandomhouse.com. The Wedding Portrait | Seven Stories Press.
- 9.Hill, Corey. Grooming Your Future Activist. East Bay Express. 21 November 2012.
- 10.de la Cretaz, Britni. A Q and A with Innosanto Nagara, author of social change books for kids. The Washington Post. 15 November 2016.
- 11.Lukoff, Kyle. A is for Activist. American Library Association LGBT Roundtable. 17 June 2013.
- 12.COUNTING ON COMMUNITY by Innosanto Nagara. Kirkus Reviews. 1 January 2016.
- 13.Children's Book Review: Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagara. Publishers Weekly. 3 August 2015.
- 14.Tough and Tiny Board Book Roundup. School Library Journal. 8 July 2015.
- 15.Children's Book Review: My Night in the Planetarium by Innosanto Nagara. Publishers Weekly. 19 September 2016.
- 16.Cloues, Rachel. My Night in the Planetarium by Rachel Cloues. Rethinking Schools. 31. 2. Winter 2016–2017.
- 17.Greene, Brandon L. Review – My Night in the Planetarium by Innosanto Nagara. HuffPost. 9 January 2017.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Modern design
3,254 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Inge DruckreyDesigner
- Ingvar KampradDesigner
- Ini ArchibongDesigner
- Innocenzo di Pietro Francucci da ImolaDesigner
- Ionna VautrinDesigner
- Ira von FürstenbergDesigner
- Irina SaltykovaDesigner
- Iris ApfelDesigner
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Innosanto Nagara?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.