Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
Eisner, Ignatz, and Harvey Award-winning Spanish-American cartoonist and illustrator known for Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Don't Go Without Me, and her luminous, boundary-pushing comics and illustration.
đź“Ť Brooklyn, New York
Rosemary Valero-O’Connell is a Spanish-American cartoonist and illustrator whose work pulses with tenderness, wit, and an unmistakable visual signature — characters with huge, expressive eyes rendered in a palette that somehow feels both retro and utterly contemporary. Born in Minneapolis and raised in Zaragoza, Spain, she studied at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design before breaking out in the mid-2010s with short stories for BOOM! Studios’ Lumberjanes and anthologies, where her confident, luminous pages immediately made her one to watch.
Her breakout arrived in 2019 with Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, written by Mariko Tamaki, a queer coming-of-age story about a high schooler trapped in a toxic first love. Valero-O’Connell’s art — a gorgeous two-color scheme of pink, teal, and black — earned her the 2019 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist, the 2020 Harvey Award for Best Children’s or Young Adult Book, and the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Penciller/Inker, while the book itself won the Eisner for Best Publication for Teens and a Printz Honor. It remains one of the most beloved YA graphic novels of its era — perfect for fans of Heartstopper, This One Summer, and Jillian Tamaki.
Her solo graphic novel Don’t Go Without Me, published by ShortBox in 2020, proved her range as a writer-artist: a surreal, emotionally charged story about love, memory, and a strange town called Without-From, praised by The Hollywood Reporter as the work of a “comic talent to watch.” She has since contributed to projects for DC, Image, and The New Yorker — including a striking short story for DC’s Zatanna — and her illustration commissions for bands and publishers have made her one of the most in-demand young artists in the industry.
When she isn’t drawing, Valero-O’Connell supports her community through zine-making and small press work, with her books and prints available through Silver Sprocket. Follow her vibrant feed on Twitter and Instagram, and explore her portfolio, shop, and process notes at hirosemary.com.
