Hope Raue Larson (b. September 17, 1982, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina)[1] is an American illustrator and cartoonist. Her main field is comic books.
Larson grew up in Asheville, North Carolina,[1] and attended Carolina Day School.[2] Upon graduation from high school, she matriculated at Rochester Institute of Technology and then transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2004.[2]
She contributed to comics anthologies Flight, True Porn 2, and You Ain't No Dancer, while working on a web-serialized graphic novel, Salamander Dream. This eventually became her first full-length book, published by AdHouse Books in September 2005; she moved to Oni Press for her second graphic novel, Gray Horses (released March 2006).
In 2006, Larson signed a two-book contract with New York publishing house Simon & Schuster. The first book under this deal, Chiggers (released June 18, 2008, under the Atheneum Books Ginee Seo imprint),[4] is a graphic novel about "nerdy teenaged girls" who meet at summer camp. Chiggers is intended for a 9- to 12-year-old audience.[5]
In 2012, Larson adapted Madeleine L'Engle's work as A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel, published by Margaret Ferguson Books (a Farrar Straus Giroux imprint).[6] The book was given the 2013 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens.[7] In 2016, Larson became the new writer for DC Comics Batgirl,[8] a run that saw the character go on back-packing trip through Asia on a voyage of self-discovery.[9]
In addition to comics, Larson has worked as a freelance illustrator for various clients, including the New York Times.
She has worked as a letterer on such books as Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's Local.
Larson's book All Summer Long was released by Farrar Straus Giroux in the spring of 2018.[10]
In 2006, Larson launched her own publishing imprint, Tulip Tree Press. She released several minicomics and prints through the Tulip Tree website;[11] the only book released under the Tulip Tree name was House of Sugar, an award-winning collection of Rebecca Kraatz's comic strip, released 15 November 2006.[12] Tulip Tree Press shut down in 2008.[13]
Larson was nominated for the 2006 Kimberly Yale Award for Best New Female Talent, and won the 2006 Ignatz Award in the category Promising New Talent.[14] In 2007, Larson won the Eisner Award for Special Recognition (formerly known as "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition").[15] She won the Eisner Award again in 2013 for her A Wrinkle in Time adaptation.[16]
Rebecca Kraatz's House of Sugar, Larson's first publishing venture, won the 2007 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent.[17]
All Summer Long was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018.[18]
In 2004, Larson moved to Toronto with her husband, Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O'Malley. In 2005, they moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. From 2008 until 2010, Larson and O'Malley lived in Asheville, North Carolina, later moving to Los Angeles, California.[19] She and O'Malley divorced in 2014.[20]
