Danica Novgorodoff is an artist, writer, and graphic novelist living in Louisville, KY. Her graphic novels include Long Way Down (adapted from Jason Reynolds’ novel), The Undertaking of Lily Chen, Refresh Refresh, Slow Storm, and A Late Freeze. Her picture books include Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist, and Environmental Pioneer, and Not a Cat: a memoir (written by Winter Miller). In 2023, Danica published The Simple Art of Rice: Recipes from Around The World for the Heart of Your Table, a cookbook in collaboration with NYC Chef JJ Johnson. Danica's graphic novel, A Better World is Possible: Global Youth Confront the Climate Crisis, a collaboration with Meera Subramanian, will be published in 2026.
In 2022, Danica was awarded the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal, "the UK’s longest running and best-loved book awards for children and young people." She was awarded a 2015 New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in Literature, was named Sarabande Books’ 2016 writer in residence, and received a 2020 Café Royal Cultural Foundation grant in literature. Her art and writing have been published in The New Yorker, MoMA Magazine, Best American Comics, The Believer, Artforum, Esquire, VQR, Slate, Orion, Seneca Review, Ecotone Journal, The Arkansas International, and others. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Blue Mountain Center, VCCA, Willapa Bay and Brush Creek.
Danica is on the board of the Cofán Survival Fund, working to support the indigenous Cofán people of the Ecuadorian Amazon to protect their environment and culture. She is an active member of 350 Brooklyn and the Save Bernheim Now coalition.
Follow Danica on instagram @novgorodoff
Photo by Lois Conner