Sara Varon
Sara Varon is an American graphic novelist, writer, and illustrator best known for her work in children's literature. Her best known work is the comic Robot Dreams which was later adapted into an animated film of the same name directed by Pablo Berger.
Sara Varon
- Birthplace
- Illinois, U.S.
- Nationality
- American
- Born
- 1971 · Chicago.
- Occupation
- comics artist · novelist · comics writer · illustrator
- Education
- School of Visual Arts
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Sara Varon is an American graphic novelist, writer, and illustrator best known for her work in children's literature. Her best known work is the comic Robot Dreams which was later adapted into an animated film of the same name directed by Pablo Berger.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q52735632 · wikipedia · Sara Varon
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Birthplace — Illinois, U.S. • Write — y • Art — y • Notable Works — Sweaterweather Robot Dreams Bake Sale Odd Duck New Shoes Hold Hands • Nationality — American • Website — http: chickenopolis.com
Early life
Early life
Varon grew up in the Illinois suburbs. She got her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2002. Varon is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts.
Career
Career
Varon's characters are entirely non-human — she claims to be bad at drawing people — except in her book My Pencil and Me where she draws herself. Her characters often form unlikely friendships — cats and chickens, cupcakes and eggplants — which combine to form what the New York Times calls "endearing, uncommon narratives." Varon created a series of alebrijes of some of her cartoon characters in collaboration with a Oaxacan artist. She has also made traditional-style Turkish carpets with images of her characters.
Personal life
Personal life
As of October 2023, Varon lives in Chicago. She is married and her husband is Guyanese.
Identity
Identity
Sara Varon is recorded as comics artist, novelist, comics writer and illustrator.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1971
Sara Varon born at Chicago.
Honors and awards
On the strength of Sweaterweather (Alternative Comics, 2003), Varon was a 2004 Harvey Award nominee for Best New Talent. Varon's book Robot Dreams (2007) landed on many 2007 and 2008 "best-of" lists, including: • Oprah's Book Club • YALSA Great Graphic Novels • NYPL Book for the Teen Age • NYPL Book for Reading and Sharing • Bank Street Book of Outstanding Merit • NCTE Notable Children's Book in the English Language Arts • American Library Association Notable Children's Book • Publishers Weekly 150 Best Books of the Year • Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Books of 2007 • Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon title Bake Sale (2011) was named a YALSA Great Graphic Novel for 2012 and selected by the School Library Journal as one of the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2011. In addition, it was a Junior Library Guild Fall 2011 Selection. Varon was a recipient of the Maurice Sendak Fellowship in 2013. Her and Cecil Castellucci's book Odd Duck (2013) was a Eisner Award nominee. In addition, it was named by School Library Journal as one of the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2013, and Kirkus Reviews named it one of the Best Children's Books of 2013. Odd Duck was a Spring 2013 Selection of the Junior Library Guild. Translated into French as Des canards trop bizarres, it won the 2015 Livrentête Prize in France. Varon's book New Shoes (2018) was selected as one of the books features in the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art's exhibit Out of the Box in 2019. Her book Hold Hands (2019) was selected as a New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year in 2019.
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.Jiménez, Jesús. 'Robot Dreams', el cómic de Sara Varon que Pablo Berger llevará a los cines. RTVE. May 11, 2022.
- 2.Mozzocco, J. Caleb. First Second's Tenth Year: An Interview with Sara Varon. ComicsAlliance. 4 April 2016.
- 3.Sara Varon Faculty Listing. School of Visual Arts.
- 4.Gustines, George Gene. What's On at New York Comic Con. The New York Times. 13 October 2011.
- 5.Children's Book Review: My Pencil and Me by Sara Varon. First Second, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-596-43589-6. Publishers Weekly. 2020.
- 6.Jamieson, Virctoria. Great New Books for a Child Just Learning to Read. The New York Times. 16 February 2018.
- 7.the site for sara varon - Page 2. chickenopolis.
- 8.Lafond, Ruthie. A Pen & Oink interview with the great Sara Varon!. Pen and Oink. 13 April 2015.
- 9.Zahed, Ramin. Exclusive: Pablo Berger Takes Us Behind the Scenes of His Acclaimed Movie, 'Robot Dreams'. Animation Magazine. October 20, 2023.
- 10.2004 Harvey Awards. harvey.malibulist.com.
- 11.The Sendak Fellowship - 2013. The Maurice Sendak Foundation.
- 12.Prix Livrentête. mediatheque-conquet.fr. 2015-08-14.
- 13.Out of The Box: The Graphic Novel Comes of Age. Carle Museum. September 2025.
- 14.The 25 Best Children's Books of 2019. The New York Times. 2 December 2019.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 15
- Sweaterweather (Alternative Comics, 2003)
- The Present (Walker Art Center, 2005)
- Chicken and Cat (Scholastic, 2006)
- Robot Dreams (First Second, 2007)
- Chicken and Cat Clean Up (Scholastic, 2009)
- Bake Sale (First Second, 2011)
- (with Cecil Castellucci) Odd Duck (Macmillan, 2013)
- (with Aaron Reynolds) President Squid (Chronicle Books, 2016)
- Sweaterweather & Other Short Stories (Macmillan, 2016)
- New Shoes (First Second, 2018)
- Hold Hands (Macmillan, 2019)
- My Pencil and Me (First Second, 2020)
- (with Cate Berry) Thank You, Teacher (HarperCollins, 2023)
- Detective Sweet Pea: The Case of the Golden Bone (First Second, 2024)
- Bean, Joy. Spring 2006 Flying Starts: Sara Varon. Publishers Weekly. 29 June 2006.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q52735632: Sara VaronWikimedia Foundation
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 16 August 2026.
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