We were lucky to catch up with Danica Novgorodoff recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Danica, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I just finished working on a nonfiction graphic novel about youth climate activists and the climate crisis. I began exploring this topic in 2016, so it’s taken me about eight years to complete it. There are few things more important to me than fighting the climate crisis, and making art and stories to inform people and inspire them to take action is the best way I know how to do that. I created this book, titled A Better World is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis, in collaboration with environmental journalist Meera Subramanian.

When I began the project in 2016, my idea was to curate a collection of essays on people’s relationships with the environment and feel-good nature-related topics. But the more research I did on climate change, the more I realized this had to be a book of a more urgent nature, and one that uplifts the voices of the young people at the forefront of the youth climate movement.

The book will be published by First Second Books in 2026.

Danica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m an artist and writer, and the main focus of my career has been graphic novels, though I also work on other narrative/visual pieces such as magazine articles, children’s books, and paintings. I started making graphic novels after I graduated from college as a painting major.

I enjoy writing my own stories, but I’ve also collaborated with some amazing writers, such as Jason Reynolds, an author who just won a MacArthur “genius” award. I’m proud of the graphic novel we created, “Long Way Down,” which won the 2022 Yoto Kate Greenaway award in the UK.

In 2023, I published a cookbook with New York chef JJ Johnson, “The Simple Art of Rice.” JJ recently appeared on the Daily Show to promote the book!

I’m especially proud of the children’s book I wrote and illustrated about a historical hero of mine, Alexander von Humboldt, who traveled from Europe to South America in 1799 and laid the groundwork for the theory of plate tectonics, among other things. My picture book is titled Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist, and Environmental Pioneer, and is drawn in pencil and watercolor.

For sixteen years, I lived in New York City, and worked various jobs while pursuing my art. During the Covid pandemic, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to be near family.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I continually have to unlearn certain unhelpful stories I tell myself about myself in my head. I’ve been practicing meditation for about 20 years, and in that time I’ve started to notice when I’m stuck in repetitive thought patterns—I’m sure these are familiar to many people: “I’m not doing enough,” “I never have enough time,” “I’m not as good as I want to be,” “I keep failing…” Being able to notice these recurring thoughts and start to interrogate whether there’s another way through them besides “I have to do more, I have to be better,” has been helpful for me. If I can reframe them, and realize when it’s my expectations I need to change rather than my productivity, I can be a little less anxious all the time.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I can’t imagine a life I would prefer to working in my studio, on my own schedule, on projects that I love. I mean, I don’t always love every project I work on, and I certainly don’t love every moment of working on the projects I do love. But when I create something I’m proud of, the process of making—writing, drawing, experimenting, the daily practice of putting pen to paper—is something that makes me feel alive.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://danicanovgorodoff.com
• Instagram: @novgorodoff (https://www.instagram.com/novgorodoff/)
• Facebook: @novgorodoff (https://www.facebook.com/novgorodoff)
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/novgorodoff/

Image Credits

Tanja Geis, Jonathan Farmer