Welcome to our weekly special feature post, Author Of The Week!!
Each week we will be interviewing a different YA author and highlighting their upcoming release!
We will also be hosting a giveaway of the book we are highlighting!!
Meet Sophia Glock!
Sophia Glock is a cartoonist who lives and draws in Austin, Texas. She attended the College of William & Mary and the School of Visual Arts. Her work has been featured in the New Yorker, Buzzfeed, and Time Out New York. She talks to her sister every day.
Click here to check out Sophia’s Website!
Meet Passport!
An unforgettable graphic memoir by debut talent Sophia Glock reveals her discovery as a teenager that her parents are agents working for the CIA.
Young Sophia has lived in so many different countries, she can barely keep count. Stationed now with her family in Central America because of her parents’ work, Sophia feels displaced as an American living abroad, when she has hardly spent any of her life in America.
Everything changes when she reads a letter she was never meant to see and uncovers her parents’ secret. They are not who they say they are. They are working for the CIA. As Sophia tries to make sense of this news, and the web of lies surrounding her, she begins to question everything. The impact that this has on Sophia’s emerging sense of self and understanding of the world makes for a page-turning exploration of lies and double lives.
In the hands of this extraordinary graphic storyteller, this astonishing true story bursts to life.
Amazon * B & N * Indiebound
~ Author Chat ~
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
Since Passport is a memoir, it’s inspired by my own life, my own memories, and experiences. I relied a lot on my diaries from high school, pictures and records from my family, and conversations with old friends to recall and confirm details about the past. I also wrote a short comic called Night Stand in 2015 which turned out to be the first piece of writing which helped me see how writing Passport would become possible.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
Favorite is tough, because I truly love so many of my characters and people, but the character of Mimi was the most fun to write and I honestly think she’s an underrepresented type of person in books: the irrepressibly lovable jerk.
YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?
The idea for the book came first but the title followed shortly after. Passport changed a lot as I wrote it, but I never had the heart to change the title.
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
I think it is hard to write dialogue and conversations between characters that efficiently convey information while also sounding natural. There is one fight between Sophia and Beth where I think I captured that balance particularly well. When I reread now it still feels immediate and real, so I am proud of that scene.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
To not fall into the trap of merely cataloguing your grievances. To find compassion for all your characters, and to turn a gimlet eye on yourself and your former motivations.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
That it is actually a secret tarot card. I based the artwork on the Page of Swords, which has a lot of the spirit I was attempting to imbue the cover with.
YABC: What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2021?
In 2021 I was most looking forward to Tillie Walden’s collection of short comics, Alone in Space, and it did not disappoint. It blew me away.
YABC: What was your favorite book in 2020?
Actually, I was so busy finishing Passport that I didn’t allow myself to read any new releases in 2020, so now I am playing catch-up. I just ordered Sophie Goldstein’s An Embarrassment of Witches and Vesper Stamper’s A Cloud of Outrageous Blue both of which came out in 2020. Sophie Goldstein writes amazing graphic novels, I’m a huge fan of her previous books like The Oven, and Vesper Stamper’s novel is centered on a teenager living through the Black Death, which is sadly and weirdly something that resonates these days.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I am writing a story now about someone grappling with the hidden potential of their literal dreams. I’m very fascinated by dreams and our relationships with the worlds we spend so much time in while we sleep, so I am excited to explore a lot of that in my next project.
YABC: Which was the most difficult or emotional scene to narrate?
I found it physically difficult to write and draw the funeral scene. It was a horrible day in real life so every time I came to that passage throughout the writing process, I winced and had to sort of steel myself to live through it again. I did not enjoy spending time there, in those memories.
YABC: Which character gave you the most trouble when writing your latest book?
The character of Beth was difficult to write. I had a lot of new and distinctly grown-up compassion for someone I had a toxic relationship with. That compassion made me want to protect her, and maybe edit out some of the harsher realities of our relationship. Ultimately, I had to portray our actual dynamic, not the dynamic I wish we had had, and I think it makes her a richer character to read in the end. It was a challenge though and is something I still find challenging to think about.
YABC: Which part of the writing process do you enjoy more: Drafting or Revising?
Drafting for sure! Revising is hard for me because I find it difficult to throw away anything I at one point liked enough to commit to paper. I think I suffer disproportionately from what is called ‘loss aversion’, so I have to be very strict with myself when it comes to editing.
YABC: What would you say is your superpower?
Adaptability. The ability to talk to different people and go to different places and be ok when I realize everything is about to change.
YABC: Is there an organization or cause that is close to your heart?
Right now the cause I feel most eagerly passionate about is vaccination education. I’m not even sure how I can help other than being vocal about the power of vaccines to keep us healthy and free as a society. If we want to return to an easier, less restrictive, more empowered way of life for all, then we must collectively vaccinate against covid-19 as a country as well as aid in other countries with less resources in getting as much vaccine as possible.
Passport
Author: Sophia Glock
Publisher:Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: November 30th, 2021
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
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The cover is clever and symbolic and the synopsis sounds incredible.
The cover is nifty. This perspective is unique.