Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Agent, dust, Gina Nguyen, graphic novel, X-Men '97
X-Men '97 Character Designer Gina Nguyen Sells Her Graphic Novel, Dust
Gina Nguyen's middle-grade graphic novel debut, tentatively titled Dust, along with a second book, has been bought by Marisa DiNovis at Knopf
Article Summary
- Gina Nguyen sells her debut middle-grade graphic novel 'Dust' to Knopf, with a second book on the way.
- 'Dust' follows 11-year-old Bao as he copes with his father's death with the help of a magical dust bunny.
- Britt Siess of Britt Siess Creative Management brokered the world rights deal for the two-book series.
- Nguyen's work spans Warner Bros., Marvel Studios, Cartoon Network, and 'X-Men ‘97' as a character designer.
Gina Nguyen's middle-grade graphic novel debut, tentatively titled Dust, along with a second book, sees the 11-year-old Bao, grieving his father's death, finding a dust bunny behind his bed that doesn't just come to life but eats Bao's emotional messes for him. Marisa DiNovis at Knopf has bought the world rights to Dust, and the publication of the first book is planned for 2026. Gina Nguyen's agent, Britt Siess, at Britt Siess Creative Management, did the two-book deal.
Gina Nguyen writes, "Finally get to share the news! My first middle-grade graphic novel is going to be published! This story is very dear to me, & I can't thank my agent, Britt Siess, & editor, Marisa, enough for getting me here."
With a BFA in the School of Visual Development from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Gina Nguyen has worked for Warner Bros. Animation, Marvel Studios, Cartoon Network, & Titmouse as a character designer on Velma, Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie, Little Ellen, Cartoon Cartoons, Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld and X-Men '97.
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers is an imprint of Random House Children's Books, and Rotem Moscovich is its Editorial Director after previously working at Disney Hyperion. Founded in 2020, Britt Siess Creative Management is a Seattle-based full-service literary agency with an emphasis on graphic novels and illustration and a very familiar name to Bleeding Cool readers.
The expansion of children's graphic novels is fuelling all manner of publishers extending into the comics medium. Right now, it seems like an infinite market that is being tapped into and creating longstanding comic book readers for decades to come. It is not for nothing that kids' graphic novels in bookstores are being referred to as the newsstand of the twenty-first century.