Many congratulations to Fiona Dunnett (IDEA Grad 2018) on finding a publisher for her illustrated book project! Fiona started working on the project with a friend/writer in California a couple of years before entering IDEA School of Design. She was able to work on it with a mentor during her Professional Development class during her time at IDEA and has since found a publisher!

You began the book before attending IDEA School of Design and worked on it during school. When did you start the book?

Well, I started collaborating on this project with my friend Michelle way back in early 2013. We had been housemates before when we were living in Mexico. She had just moved back to California that year, and I had moved back to Vancouver the year before. We were both feeling a bit bummed out and uninspired, so we decided to work on this book, as we both feel so strongly about the subject.

What is the book about?

It’s a bilingual coming-of-age story based on Michelle’s friend Gricelda’s first hand account of her experience crossing the Mexico-U.S. border as a fifteen-year-old with her mother and younger brother.

Can you tell us about the title, ‘Travesía’?

The book is in Spanish and English, and “Travesía” is Spanish for Crossing. We originally gave it the subtitle “Journey”, but after further discussion with the publisher, we changed the subtitle to something that gave more context and used effective keywords for searching purposes.

What are your personal connections with the book’s theme?

My personal connections with the themes of immigration and deportation between Mexico and the U.S. are indirect. I first met and lived with Michelle, the book’s author, and her then-husband when they moved to Oaxaca in 2010 because of his deportation. When we began working on the book a few years later, I was living in Vancouver and Michelle was back home in California.

An immigration policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), was being introduced in the U.S. by the Obama administration, which shielded undocumented individuals who were brought into the country by their parents as children from deportation, and allowed them to get work permits.

Still, more than 3 million people were deported from the U.S. during this administration. Trump’s administration has been even more oppressive, with their plans to build a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border, and their attempts to eliminate DACA.

Through the years Michelle and I have spent making this book, immigration and deportation has remained a contentious issue, and will no doubt remain at the forefront in the years to come. We have ideas for the next book on the same topic, but we’ll wait and see how successful this book will be.

What was the process like getting a publisher?

Much like looking for a job, it wasn’t easy. A lot of the bigger publishers out there don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts, so we had to research smaller publishers that looked like they would be a good fit for our book.

I worked on this project during my mentorship at IDEA School of Design with Johnnie Christmas, and he helped me create a pitch package which included an overview, synopsis, author and illustrator's bios, the cover and first 7 spreads in full colour, and the rest of the spreads as tight line drawings. I found this was a good start, but some publishers asked for much more. Arsenal Pulp Press asked for a market analysis as well, for example.

We also did some research into looking for an agent, and found that the more finished artwork you can present, the better. I ended up doing all the spreads in full colour, as it wasn't a long book. I think that made a bigger impression on Arsenal Pulp Press in the end.

We actually found another small publisher in the U.S. that was interested in our book before we found Arsenal. They were more of a hybrid between traditional publisher and self-publishing company, though. They promised to do the marketing and promotions, but we had to purchase a certain number of copies up front. We actually came pretty close to signing on with them, but after further research and discussion, we decided to back out. I’m really glad we went with our gut, cause we wouldn’t have found Arsenal otherwise.

Early process/sketches by Fiona Dunnett

About Johnnie Christmas

Johnnie Christmas is the co-creator of the graphic novel series ANGEL CATBIRD (with acclaimed writer Margaret Atwood). He co-created the critically acclaimed Image Comics series SHELTERED, which has gone on to translation in multiple languages. He is the creator, writer and artist of FIREBUG, serialized in ISLAND Magazine; as well as co-creator of the sci-fi series PISCES. He is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, earning a BFA in Communication Design/Illustration.

About Arsenal Pulp Press

Arsenal Pulp Press is a book publisher in Vancouver, Canada with over 400 titles currently in print, which include literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry; books on social issues; gender studies; LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and persons of colour) literature; graphic novels and non-fiction; children's and young adult literature; regional history; cookbooks; alternative crafts; and books in translation. We are interested in literature that engages and challenges readers, and which asks probing questions about the world around us.

For more on Johnnie Christmas see johnniechristmas.com.

For more on Arsenal Pulp Press see arsenalpulp.com.

For more on Fiona, see fionadunnett.com.

Travesía comes out on April 1, 2021 in Canada and April 13, 2021 in the US.