Early life
Walden grew up in New Jersey and Austin, Texas. She was a competitive figure skater. [6]
Walden is named after her paternal grandmother, an artist who died before Walden was born. Walden's first comic was a black-and-white comic "about never knowing her [grandmother] but following in her footsteps. [7] A workshop led by Scott McCloud was a major turning point in her career; it "really inspired [her] to draw some comics, and around this time [she] was also becoming increasingly bored with fine art." [8]
Growing up, Walden read a lot of manga, which had an influence on her work, in particular the art of Yoshihiro Togashi, Osamu Tezuka, and Rumiko Takahashi. [9] Walden has also said, "Studio Ghibli has completely shaped my visual vocabulary and how I think about stories." [6] Walden has also been influenced by graphic memoirs, such as Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Blankets by Craig Thompson, and Stitches by David Small. [9]
Walden began putting her comics and drawings on her website, and was discovered while still in high school by British publisher Avery Hill Publishing, who worked with Walden to publish her first graphic novel, The End of Summer. [7]
Career
Walden's debut graphic novel, The End of Summer, was published by Avery Hill in June 2015. It is told from the viewpoint of Lars, a feeble boy who lives in a fantastical palace and has a giant cat named Nemo. [7] In an WORDS interview with Paul Gravett, she dedicates the book to her twin brother, John, describing the main characters as being a mishmash of her and John. [8] Walden won the 2016 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist for The End of Summer. [10]
Her second graphic novel, I Love This Part, was published by Avery Hill in November 2015 and tells the story of two teenage girls who fall in love. [7] Walden won the 2016 Ignatz Award for Promising New Talent for I Love This Part. [10] The novel was also nominated for the 2016 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue/One-Shot. [11]
Walden's third graphic novel, A City Inside, was published by Avery Hill in 2016. [12] It won the 2016 Broken Frontier Award for Best One-Shot. [13]
Spinning , Walden's first graphic novel memoir about her years as a competitive ice skater, was published by First Second Books in September 2017. [14] Originally, Spinning was Walden's thesis work for the Center for Cartoon Studies during her second year of schooling there. [9] It won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work, making Walden one of the youngest Eisner Award winners ever at 22. [3]
Walden's On a Sunbeam , a science fiction webcomic, was nominated for the 2017 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic. [1] [15] The webcomic was adapted into a graphic novel that was released in October 2018 by First Second Books, with the UK edition published by Avery Hill Publishing. [1] [16] [17] Set in space, the story revolves around a crew in charge of restoring old structures. As Mia, the newest member, gets to know her team, in the present timeline, a flashback occurs to her past at school, where she fell in love with another student named Grace. [18] The graphic novel won the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. [19]
To commemorate International Women's Day, Walden's piece "Minutes" was featured as a Google Doodle on March 8, 2018. [20]
In 2019, Walden published Are You Listening? from First Second Books, which earned her the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album-New. [21]
In 2020, Walden published Alone in Space: A Collection, which compiled her previously published I Love This Part and A City Inside, as well as several previously unpublished comics, sketches, and works from magazines, including her piece What It's Like To Be Gay In An All-Girls Middle School. [22]
In 2021, Walden was approached by Skybound to write a trilogy of graphic novels centering Clementine from The Walking Dead. Clementine: Book One was released in 2022, while Book Two released in 2023. Book Three is expected to release in 2025. [23] [24] [25]
In 2022, Walden and Emma Hunsinger published My Parents Won't Stop Talking! from First Second Books. [26]
In 2023, Walden illustrated the graphic novel Junior High, written by Tegan and Sara. A sequel, Crush was published in 2024. [27]
In May 2024, Walden took up residency at the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History to write a graphic novel about the relationship between Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant. The Sheldon Museum has many records from the couple, which Walden used to write the novel. The project was commissioned by Vermont Humanities and the Vermont branch of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The book is expected to release in 2025. [28]
Personal life
Walden has known she was a lesbian since she was 5. [14] [29] Before she came out, Walden avoided including queer characters in her stories, feeling that she "couldn't draw openly gay characters if [she] was still scared to be openly gay." [7]
Walden has spoken of her father's influence on her entrance into the comics industry. As she said in an interview, "My dad has been the behind-the-scenes guy for my entire comics career. I realized that when I start looking, he’s been everywhere." [6]
Walden is a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies. She also works as a professor there. [30] [1]
She is married to fellow graphic novelist Emma Hunsinger, whom she met when they were both attending the Center for Cartoon Studies. [31] [32] On October 4, 2023, the same day as Clementine: Book Two was released, Walden gave birth to her and Hunsinger's first son, Walter. [33] Walden has two cats named Stanley and Tatiana. [34]
