Tillie Walden author page

Tillie Walden biography

Tillie Walden is an American cartoonist and illustrator known for her contributions to young adult and children’s graphic literature. Born in 1996 in San Diego, California, she grew up in New Jersey and later in Austin, Texas. Walden attended the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, where she earned her degree and currently serves as a faculty member.

Walden’s first graphic novel, The End of Summer, was published in 2015 by Avery Hill Publishing. She followed this with I Love This Part and A City Inside, both released in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Her autobiographical work, Spinning, published in 2017 by First Second Books, chronicles her experiences as a competitive figure skater and received the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work.

In 2018, Walden released On a Sunbeam, a science fiction graphic novel that was originally serialized as a webcomic. The book won the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics. Her subsequent work, Are You Listening?, published in 2019, earned the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album—New.

Walden has also contributed to the Clementine series, a trilogy of graphic novels set in the universe of The Walking Dead, with the first volume released in 2022. Additionally, she collaborated with Emma Hunsinger on My Parents Won’t Stop Talking! in 2022 and illustrated Junior High and Crush, written by Tegan and Sara Quin, published in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

In recognition of her work, Walden was appointed as Vermont’s Cartoonist Laureate for the term 2023–2026.