Shelf Care Interview: Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

Booklist's Shelf Care

Welcome to the Shelf Care Interview, an occasional conversation series where Booklist talks to book people. This Shelf Care Interview is sponsored by Penguin Young Readers. In today's special Graphic Novels in Libraries Month installment, we have the pleasure of hearing from Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed about their graphic novel When Stars Are Scattered. Victoria Jamieson is the creator of the graphic novels All’s Faire in Middle School and Newbery Honor winner Roller Girl. She received her BFA in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and worked as a children's book designer before becoming a freelance illustrator. Omar Mohamed spent his childhood at the Dadaab camp, after his father was killed and he was separated from his mother in Somalia. He devoted everything to taking care of his younger brother, Hassan, and to pursuing his education. He now lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with his wife and five children, and works at a center to help resettle other refugees. He is the founder of Refugee Strong, a nonprofit organization that empowers students living in refugee camps.