Niki Smith

How much do I love doing silly photoshoots for my books: an embarrassing amount. My author copies of SEA LEGS are finally here and look how pretty they aaaaaaaaare. The teal waters... The GORGEOUS deep salmon (well, flying fish~) endpapers that @shecallsmecdawg designed! The uncoated paper and all the little spot gloss details on the cover! I'm in love. SEA LEGS came out Tuesday and @itsjulesbakes and I are so so grateful to everyone who's picked it up. Big big big 💖⛵💖⛵💖 to our editor Maya, designer Carina, agent Charlie, and the whole @graphixbooks team!! #bookstagram #kidlitart #boatkids #kidsonboats #kids4sail #kids4sailteen #comics #graphicnovel #liveaboard #SeaLegs #authorsofinstagram #sailboat

THE DEEP & DARK BLUE came out five years ago today...! Here's Grayce, introducing herself for the very first time. Five years. It's incredible to look back at it now. Thank you to everyone who's picked up my tiny fantasy graphic novel about queer joy, about trans girl magic, about blue and dye and fiber craft. Thank you to the countless schools and libraries that have put it on their shelves for readers to stumble upon. Thank you to everyone who's gifted it to someone in their lives who they love. 💙 Keep loving. @lbschool @littlebrownink #thedeepanddarkblue #comic #comicpanel #graphicnovel #queer #queercomics #lgbtbooks #trans #bookstagram

THE GOLDEN HOUR came out a year ago today...! ☀️ Thank you to everyone who's picked up my quiet book about PTSD, baby cows, and being young, gay and anxious in the midwest<3 One of my favorite things to hear as a middle grade author is "my child told me I should read this." Thank you to everyone who has passed it on into someone else's waiting hands. Thank you for sharing these conversations with each other. More than ever, these are things that must be said. Hold your queer kids. This week is hurting them more than you may realize. #queerbooks #authorsofinstagram #graphicnovel #thegoldenhour #lgbtbooks #bookstagram

I looove seeing process art, WIPs and sketches that weren’t picked…so I’m sharing all the steps that went into designing the cover of MIDSUMMER SISTERS! I started out with a dozen quick sketches, working with my spectacular designer, Carina Taylor. We knew we wanted the sisters and the beach where they spend their summer watching over a herd of wild horses. Other than that, I had free rein (hah) to come up with as many designs I could think of. My usual method is to flip through the book and find scenes I think could work for the cover– at this point in the process, MIDSUMMER SISTERS was half-way inked (but not yet colored), so I already had an idea of what visuals I could draw from. Also--the title changed over the course of this process! Title changes happen more often than you think in publishing, and we were tossing around new title ideas up until the very very end. “The Marsh Ponies” was the working title I first pitched the book under, and I used it as a placeholder while working on these sketches. Which sketch is your fave? MIDSUMMER SISTERS will be out June 2 from @scholastic @graphixbooks ! #bookstagram #kidlitart #comics #graphicnovel #authorsofinstagram #coverdesign #bookcover #coverreveal #illustration

Let’s go birding in MIDSUMMER SISTERS! The graphic novel takes place on the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and I wanted the setting to be just as real and grounded as any of the characters… that meant drawing a lot of wildlife (plus the MANY WILD HORSES, of course). They aren’t ever named in-book, but if you know your Atlantic birds, you’ll spot a few familiar faces. MIDSUMMER SISTERS is out June 2 from @scholastic @graphixbooks ! #birding #birds #graphicnovel #kidlitart #bookstagram

Con season is in full swing— I’ll have some books and whoole lot of minicomics and zines at @comicinvasionberlin on May 9th and 10th! And I'll be sharing a table with @andnomoreshallwepart ~~~

I just found out yesterday was International Crab Day and I MISSED IT? like a CHUMP?? Here’s a belated Quinn being very very cute and very very gay (and VERY CRAB.) MIDSUMMER SISTERS will be out June 2 from @scholastic @graphixbooks ! #crab #CRAB #crab #crustacean #graphicnovel #kidlitart #bookstagram #comics

There are a lot of rocks and fossils in this book, and a whole lot of geology love <3 A few pages from my next graphic novel, MIDSUMMER SISTERS, out June 2 from @scholastic @graphixbooks #earthday #geode #amethyst #graphicnovel #kidlitart #bookstagram #rockhounding

It’s Earth Day tomorrow— go pick up some trash and give the grass a little pet. Your gramma would be proud. MIDSUMMER SISTERS out June 2 from @scholastic @graphixbooks ! #earthday #litter #graphicnovel #kidlitart #bookstagram #midsummersisters

My tween horse girl heart is beaming! MIDSUMMER SISTERS owes so much to the classic horse books I grew up with… Misty of Chincoteague (and Wesley Dennis’s incredible illustrations), The Black Stallion, and so many more. All I wanted to draw as a kid was horses and wolves. People? No way. Drawing tiny foals and their knobby knees will always delight me. Thank you @shelf.awareness for this incredible starred review! "Tween stepsisters Kenzie and Quinn, who don't even "remember not being sisters," try to enjoy what they believe is their final summer together in this thoughtful, luminous middle-grade graphic novel. [...] Smith's wild horses seem especially lifelike, manes flowing and gentle eyes gleaming, allowing the reader to find in them the same mesmerizing wonder that the sisters do. Spectacular." MIDSUMMER SISTERS will be out June 2 from @scholastic @graphixbooks !

And a star from School Library Journal for MIDSUMMER SISTERS! Officially out TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY! I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s been almost five years since the last graphic novel I both drew *and* wrote came out. And having my backlist praised in this review was such an unexpectedly sweet surprise. I love each book I’ve written and being told that they’re still remembered and still loved really hit me harder than I expected! I hope MIDSUMMER SISTERS finds a place in readers’ hearts like THE DEEP & DARK BLUE and THE GOLDEN HOUR have. <3 what else can I say!!! I love making books. @sljournal ⭐ Midsummer Sisters Stepsisters Kenzie and Quinn are best friends, but that bond is tested when their parents’ relationship frays. ­Spending a summer at the Outer Banks with their grandmother allows them space to ­puzzle through what will happen to them when the divorce becomes real. Full of ­emotional upheaval, from the low of impending ­separation to the high of ­caring for a foal born among the area’s wild horses, this middle grade graphic novel is all heart. The setting is a main character in itself, along with the girls and their grandmother, a caring figure who they need for stability. The portrayal of their nervousness and grief, balanced by the calming influence of other adults, creates a cozy and safe tone that will ­resonate with empathetic readers whose experiences may mirror Kenzie’s and Quinn’s. Stylistic choices for color, ­focal points, and panel movement along with the sweeping use of pencil feel fresh, the raw grief and elation evident on each page. The traumatic fighting and feelings of abandonment are explored in equal measure as the lessons about the wild horses of the Outer Bank and what conservancy looks like. This creates a three-dimensional story that offers balance and complexity, highlighting the value of middle grade graphic novels as a format uniquely suited to readers navigating their own coming-of-age. Kenzie, Quinn, and their family are white. VERDICT Smith has carved out a niche in graphic novels for tweens and teens with each heartfelt story. A must ­purchase.” Out June 2 from @scholastic @graphixbooks !

Convention season is in full swing! Here’s where I know I’ll be in Europe in 2026. MIDSUMMER SISTERS will be out on June 2, so I should have copies at every con after that! April 5 – @queerkunstmarkt Karlsruhe, Germany May 9-10 – @comicinvasionberlin Berlin, Germany May 23-24 – @hana_spring_con Königsbrunn, Germany June 4-7 – @comicsalon_er Erlangen, Germany Nov 14-15 – @thoughtbubblefestival Harrogate, England Nov 28-29 – @ccon_comic_con_stuttgart Stuttgart, Germany