'The thing about being an artist in Canada, in my experience, is that it's a place where you're encouraged to try new things. Emily did one with cartoonist and illustrator Willow Dawson and then and I did one, which was the mini-comic Skim. The magazine had this short comic book series written by and illustrated by women. I used to write articles for an indie magazine in Toronto called Kiss Machine run by Emily Pohl-Weary.

'I was writing for various weekly magazines and did a play for Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. How did you get your start writing comic books? I tended to read things I liked voraciously and many times.'Ĭanadian writer Mariko Tamaki was tapped by Marvel Comics to write the series, Hulk, a new take on classic character She-Hulk. Frankweiler and Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. I was also a big fan of books like Constance C. There's this Canadian series called Booky that I liked, which was about a little girl during the Depression. 'It seems like no one else has ever heard of a lot of the series I was obsessed with when I was a kid! I was obsessed with the Trixie Belden books which was a 'girl detective' series, kind of like Nancy Drew with a horse. That was the dividing line for me as a kid ⁠- between those who wanted to put on makeup and those who wanted to pretend to be a unicorn. Fantastical, imaginary worlds were a huge part of my childhood. My parents always preferred that I read a book, but I would watch films like The Secret of NIMH and then want to re-enact scenes later.

'I was a quiet kid who wanted to stay home all the time and watch Transformers on television in my basement. What books did you read when you were younger?

The CBC Books summer reading list: 33 books to check out this season.

The Toronto-born, California-based Tamaki spoke with CBC Books about her writing career. It tells the story about a teenage girl named Freddy whose girlfriend, Laura Dean, keeps stringing her along. Her latest book, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, is a graphic novel illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell. She has written superhero characters such as Supergirl and is working on the forthcoming Harley Quinn for DC Comics and She-Hulk for Marvel. She has twice been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award. Her 2008 graphic novel, Skim, created with her illustrator cousin Jilllan Tamaki, won the Doug Wright Award for best graphic novel, the Ignatz Award and the Joe Schuster Award. Accolades and critical praise follow Mariko Tamaki.

Skim tamaki