Each ticket holder will receive an autographed copy of Sunshine upon entry.
This isn't even really a book event—but a theatrical experience! A host of actors will join me, and with the aid of a multimedia presentation, we will read Sunshine to you LIVE and UNABRIDGED! (In all, it's about a 90-minute experience.)
This theater is majestical!
And does it make me anxious to think that I hope to sell out an 800-seat theater?
I feed off the energy of presenting to a big crowd of readers, and I am so stoked to be getting out there again for IRL author events. One major thing that the pandemic has upended is lead times. Where we used to plan nearly a year in advance, we are getting bookings weeks and months before my visit. Please don't hesitate to inquire about scheduling an author visit for this school year. For info on my presentations and for contact info, please visit StudioJJK.com/keynotes.
In this live drawing performance and poignant autobiographical journey, author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka sketches some life-shaping moments, showing us how drawing and storytelling can help us honor and remain close to those we've lost.
See this Snoopy-obsessed kid? He grew up to write for The Snoopy Show on AppleTV!
Wait. What? Yes, that kid who constantly drew Snoopy growing up wrote words, and then those words were spoken by those iconic Charlie Brown characters!
I approached this with such care and reverence for what Charles Schulz created.
This is my first script to make it to screen! Happiness is a Rainy Day premiered today and is the second half of this episode. Season 2, Episode 6
It is the beginning of a new era for my Lunch Lady graphic novels! This wouldn't be happening if it weren't for the readers—and the librarians and the booksellers. Despite the last new Lunch Lady book publishing in 2014, this series has continued to do well year after year. So well that the Lunch Lady is BACK in full-color hardcovers! (And never mind the awe-inspiring full-cast audiobooks!) These reissues are a prelude to the new adventures. I am so happy to have returned to this world—it has been like comfort food in these weird times.
What would you like to learn about comics and children's books? On Sunday evenings throughout the spring, I will be offering weekly webinars based on the questions I have received the most in my twenty-year career as an author and illustrator.
While these webinars are designed to serve as professional development, they may also be of interest to very motivated teen creatives. Whether you want to learn for your work or to better understand the comics format, I hope that you can join. Recordings of the webinars will be emailed out to all who registered. Thanks!
My online comics classes have made it to The Washington Post! And the best part? See that purple eye? THAT IS BY ONE OF MY STUDENTS!!! In The Post! READ ALL 'BOUT IT HERE!
I am now able to offer a sliding scale registration for my Spring 2022 online comics classes. The first meeting will be on March 28th! Space is limited to 20 students in each section.
Whether you are a KidLit author, illustrator, bookseller, or librarian—I am going to share everything I have learned in the past year of making content for this platform (and two years of consuming media on it)!
TikTok is its own beast, completely different from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and all of the others. It has its own language, its own culture. I will share with you everything that I have learned through trial-and-error and content creation. tiktok.com/@studiojjk
My next round of online comics classes will begin on January 3rd. There are tracks for kids and teens! We will spend each course meeting with a lesson and then face-to-face video conferencing for discussion and to review work.
I’m trying to process what I just experienced at #TEDMonterey. Some of the most brilliant minds from an array of disciplines conveyed in a beautiful seaside town to deliver TED Talks. And while you arrive thinking you’re the only one feeling utterly unprepared, you quickly realize that everyone is having that same human experience of anxiety. Suddenly, I found myself attending talks not to simply learn but to cheer on my fellow speakers. How quickly you go from strangers to having a vested interest in one another’s success on stage. Truly, the experience is like that I had working at summer camp—strangers thrust together into a bubble where time moves differently than it does in the outside world.
Now place on top of that the Covid of it all. Everybody was required to be vaccinated and there was constant on-site testing. That isn’t to say that I didn’t feel guarded, but it was a calculated risk I was willing to take. (Unlike the Green Day concert at Fenway I just forwent. My favorite band at my favorite venue…and I just didn’t feel it safe attending.) But with the world being what it has been—you have this small group of speakers connecting over how the pandemic affected them as professionals, as parents, as people… And while the attendee list is typically in the thousands, this event was significantly scaled back to be a more intimate affair. Attendees were there to support this organization that curates and then records presentations that are then shared freely with the world.
I have many stories to share and new friends to celebrate. I was going to do one big photo dump but instead will let these stories slowly roll out over the following weeks. One could develop a TED Talk just about giving a TED Talk…
(And while I have had two previous talks curated to TED.com, the TED Main Stage event just hits differently. It’ll be some time before this latest talk of mine publishes, but get ready for me to be pushing out the talks from my new friends as they are posted.)
I am having a blast on Cameo! I have been making personalized videos for librarians, classroom teachers, young artists, and of course—lunch ladies! I would be honored to help surprise a special somebody in your life with a Cameo! Click here to make a booking!
And if you aren't familiar with Cameo, check out this piece from CBS Sunday morning.
Whether you are new to JJK's classes or a seasoned returnee—this program is for everyone! A group of young cartoonists will meet with New York Times-bestselling graphic novelist Jarrett J. Krosoczka for an hour every day for a week to collaborate on a comic! Along the way, Jarrett will be offering off-hand advice to guide students on growing their cartooning skills! Jarrett will instill the importance of give-and-take when it comes to making creative decisions. Students will have the chance to vote on story direction using Zoom Webinar's polling feature, Zoom chat, and on-camera conversations! This camp is limited to 20 students with a required minimum of 10 students to run.
We are trying these at different times throughout the summer. While it is a bit of an experiment, timing-wise, we are using what we have learned over the past year in running these Zoom classes. We are hoping this gives kids the flexibility to be both engaged and with enough open time in the day to be outdoors.
I have been having an absolute blast teaching my online comics class to adults. There have been so many people asking for a summer section, so I added one that will meet Monday and Tuesday evenings at 8pm in July. This class is open to learners 16 and up.
I have been having an absolute blast with my weekly art courses. They are a highlight of my week! They very much remind me of the classes that I took as a young artist—an opportunity to commune with like-minded peers, hone craft, and learn from one another! I am releasing the schedule for my spring 2021 classes below. Hope you can join us!
Weekly one-hour meetings and tutorials from New York Times-bestselling author Jarrett J. Krosoczka! This program will run for eight sessions, PLUS students will upload their comics and work to a Google Classroom in-between meetings so that Jarrett and peers can offer encouragement!
In this course, Jarrett builds community amongst cartoonist peers, gives weekly lessons, and assigns work that builds on itself to lead students to understand the creative process of writing and illustrating their own graphic novels.
These classes happen over Zoom Webinar. Students may elect to participate in a number of ways including voice only, voice and camera, the chat function, the Q&A portal, polls, and uploading work via Google Classroom. It is 100% up to their comfort level. Each course is limited to twenty students.
"My son created a portfolio of pages and pages of drawings that clearly demonstrated his progress and passion for art. He is now a budding cartoonist with a new interest to occupy his time at home." —Michelle, parent in Massachusetts
"It was really nice to be able to get advice straight from someone who's been doing this for so long - there were a lot of small throw-outs that we got from this that wouldn't be in something like a book; they have to come from someone who's been doing this for years."
—Parent
"Since the lockdown began, and my children’s world abruptly contracted, new role models emerged and filled the gaps. Jarrett Krosoczka is one of those creative heroes that we have relied on to get us through this time." — Chelsea, parent in Massachusetts
