“Amazing assembly with the incomparable Maria Scrivan. This New York Times best-seller’s energy lit lights in my students’ minds sharing her writing process and growth mindset! “
― School Board Member, Monticello, NY

Maria Scrivan’s dynamic, positive, and energetic talks have inspired and ignited minds around the globe. With stories of resilience and determination, Maria discusses the windy path she took on her way to her childhood dream of becoming a cartoonist. She shares how she moved past detours, rejections, and an inability to give up on her dream. Maria takes her audience through a humor-filled journey from being a kid who loved to draw, and read Garfield, to becoming a syndicated cartoonist and New York Times bestselling author. She discusses her process of finding ideas, and taking them from sketch to finished comic or graphic novel. She also discusses how to combat the voices in our head that tell us that we are not enough, and offers strategies on moving through imposter syndrome, writers block, and how to handle the doubt gremlins when they show up.

Maria’s presentation runs from 45-60 minutes with a slideshow, followed by live drawing and a dynamic question and answer session. Maria loves all size audiences and has presented to all ages from first grade through college. She also offers professional development sessions on creativity for adults.

Maria is available for school and library visits, cartoon workshops, and festivals virtually and in person. In addition to schools and bookstores, she has presented at the Winter Institute, ALA Booklist, GraphixCon, Brooklyn Book Festival, Moccafest, National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards, Decatur Book Festival, Toronto Comics Arts Festival, School of Visual Arts, Society of Illustrators, TMtalks.org, New York Comic Con, Crossroads Columbus, The Brattleboro Literary Festival, the Charles Schulz Museum, An Unlikely Story with Jeff Kinney, The Bronx Book Fest, Chappaqua Book Fest, Boston Book Fest, Toronto International Festival of Authors, Salon de Livre in Montreal, and the Quickdraw at San Diego Comic Con with Sergio Aragones.

PRESENTATIONS

Nat Enough Series
Maria shares her inspiration for creating the Nat Enough series with childhood art, photos, and stories. She discusses her own struggles with not fitting in, her love of cartooning at an early age, and strategies to move through doubt and fear. She shares her creative process along with the tools and materials she uses to create each book. She then creates live artwork with audience participation while answering questions.
Audience Size: Any, from small groups to large assemblies.
40-60 minutes, Ages 7 and up

Becoming A Cartoonist
Maria shares a funny visual lecture on her journey to fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a syndicated cartoonist and professional author. She discusses the many roadblocks along the way, rejection, and her unwavering determination. Maria shares the childhood feelings and experiences that were the inspiration for her books, where she gets her ideas, and her process of making comics and graphic novels.
Audience Size: Any, from small groups to large assemblies.
40-60 minutes, Ages 7 and up

Nat Enough And Social Emotional Learning
In the Nat Enough series, Nat grapples with her feelings of not being enough. Using examples from all five books in the series, students are encouraged to reflect on selfawareness, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, understand the impact of their thoughts and emotions, and learn about empathy, relationship skills, resilience, and self-acceptance.
Audience Size: Any, from small groups to large assemblies.
40-60 minutes, Ages 7 and up

Defeating Doubt Gremlins
Maria shares her own encounters with Doubt Gremlins on her path to becoming a professional cartoonist and author. She gives strategies to move through doubt and fear, and to ignore the voices in our heads that tell us we’re not good enough.
Audience Size: Any, from small groups to large assemblies
40-60 minutes, Ages 7 and up

Live Drawing Demo
While answering student questions at in-person events, Maria does a drawing demonstration on an easel or whiteboard. With help from the audience, Maria creates characters, builds comics, and shares examples of the shortcuts cartoonists use to communicate visually.

Comics And Storytelling Workshop
Learn how to draw a comic from concept to final. This workshop explores the components of story and applying that to comics. Students will leave with a finished comic of their own.
60 minutes, Ages 7 and up

Cartoonists Tips And Tricks Workshop (All Ages)
Maria shares the visual shortcuts cartoonists use to create comics. In an easy to follow and interactive format, she shows students how to create expressions, speech bubbles, actions, body language, and more to use in their own comics.
60 minutes, Ages 7 and up

Making A Graphic Novel
Maria shares the process of brainstorming and finding ideas, creating thumbnails, outlines, scripts, story development, sketches, inking and final art from concept to completion.
60 minutes, Ages 7 and up

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT/ADULTS

Creativity (Professional Development/Adult)
As a syndicated cartoonist, graphic novelist, magazine cartoonist, and greeting card artist, Maria has come up with thousands of ideas. She shares strategies for brainstorming, moving through creative blocks, and the benefits of rejection. She discusses productive vs. non-productive procrastination, moving past doubt and fear, and creating physical and energetic space for art. Attendees will be inspired and energized to explore their own creativity, no matter the medium.

Defeating Doubt Gremlins (Professional Development/Adult)
Maria shares strategies to recognize and move through the negative voices that stand in the way of achieving our goals and becoming our best selves. As we move past doubt and fear, we learn to reevaluate the false stories that stand in our way, along with strategies to build resiliency, and change our inner narrative.

Nat Enough and Social Emotional Learning (Professional Development/Adult)
In the Nat Enough series, Nat grapples with her self-perception and her feelings of not being “enough.” Using examples from all five books in the series, educators are given tools to help students reflect on their own self-awareness, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, understand the impact of their thoughts and emotions, and learn about empathy, relationship skills, resilience, and self-acceptance.

The Benefits of Graphic Novel (Professional Development/Adult)
Graphic novels are not only real books, they are real books enhanced. They promote empathy, visual learning, and are excellent for reluctant readers and students with learning differences, and for young readers to feel successful.

Visual Journals (Professional Development/Adult)
How to use writing and drawing to explore feelings, incite healing, and process experiences to a deeper level. This workshop explores the benefit of using images in storytelling, and tools to create stories using images.

You are Enough (Professional Development/Adult)
How to help students move through the feelings of not being enough, using themes and examples from of the Nat Enough series including self-worth, self-love, doubt, fear, and independence.

Through the Lens of Humor (Professional Development/Adult)
Humor comes from strong emotions of all kinds, including anger, frustration and sadness. Writing a daily comic for over a decade helped train Maria’s brain to look at the most trying moments from childhood and beyond through the lens of humor. She shares how we can use humor for healing, getting to know true selves, and dealing the world today.