This month we talk to the graphic novelist, Jamison Odone, aka Jakob Crane. His graphic novel about the Salem Witch Trials impressed me with its ability to evoke compassion for a long-dead witch-accuser. 

NG: It’s great to visit with you, Jamison. And thanks for sharing your self-portrait! 

NG: Your graphic novel, Lies in the Dust: A Tale of Remorse from the Salem Witch Trials, retells the story from the perspective of the only accuser who showed remorse, Ann Putnam. You learned about that remorse after you came upon one of her letters. Why did it motivate you?

JC: The stories of New England have always been very much a part of me and my upbringing in Rhode Island. My goal after graduating from art school in Boston in 2002 was to write and illustrate books. I started out with children’s picture books and that transitioned into graphic novels. The witch trials have always interested me,  and so I really for years wanted to do a book about them. I feel like I know the people I’ve read about them so much. But, being that there has been so much already written about them, I didn’t see much of a point. Then I came across and read Ann Putnam Jr’s letter of apology, and that was it for me. I had my needle, and I had my thread—so I could begin.

NG: Lies in the Dust is a collaboration between you and Timothy Decker. What can you tell us about that collaboration?

JC: Tim and I were being published by Front Street books in 2007. They published both of our first books (mine being “Honey Badgers” and Tim’s being “The Letter Home”). Our publisher, Stephen Roxburgh, introduced us and was sort of like, “Here…you two be friends.” Tim is a very close friend now and I’ve always loved his work so I pitched my idea to him, then to Islandport Press, and there you have it.

NG: The words and the illustrations work together in the book to make your retelling more immediate and compelling, something between a book and a movie. Which comes first to you, the words or the pictures?

JC: Sometimes the pictures and sometimes the words. My recently published graphic novel, The Man In The Painter’s Room, about the final months and suicide of Vincent van Gogh, came to me when I was reading an account of his funeral by his friend, Emile Bernard. Fresh images just came to me, so I had to make a book. That sorta happened with Lies in the Dust when I found Ann Putnam Jr’s letter of apology.

NG: What was it like to receive a LitPick Five Star book award for Lies in the Dust? (Watch YouTube video book review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuuXKfcl3z0)

JC: We did? Neat.

NG: You used the pen name Jakob Crane for this book, and you also write under your real name, Jamison Odone. Can you tell us why?

JC: Axl Rose was already taken, so Jakob Crane was all I could come up with. Actually, it felt right to publish this book under a pen name. It was very different from my other work, and so it occurred to me that a pen name was a good idea to separate my work. Jakob came from Jakob Grimm and Crane came from that poor beleaguered schoolmaster who trod the dreamy landscape of Sleepy Hollow.

NG: You knew Maurice Sendak. Tell us about him.

JC: He was a dear friend of mine until his death. He helped me get started in books when I was very young and even introduced me to my first publisher. He was a profoundly brilliant and witty man and a loyal friend. I miss him dearly.

NG: You’ve written several children’s books. Do you read them to your kids? How do they react? How does it feel for you?

JC: Oh, sure. They all know I am the greatest artist and author of all time.

NG: Your newest graphic novel, The Man in the Painter’s Room, retells the story of the last weeks of Vincent van Gogh’s life. It’s a beautiful, moving book that captures both the brilliance and the ordinariness of the painter. Tell us how you came to write and illustrate it.

JC:  Sure, I touched on it a bit in an earlier question about the Emile Bernard letter, which was written to their mutual friend, Albert Aurier (a fellow artist). I’d never particularly intended to write and illustrate a whole graphic novel about Van Gogh because again, THERE ARE SO MANY BOOKS ABOUT THE TOPIC! But, when I read that Bernard letter from 1890, the beauty of Vincent’s sendoff from a first-hand account, the way that his casket was surrounded with his paintings and with every yellow flower they could find in town, well it had an impact on me. So from there, I had my needle, and I had my thread once again. After some research I found a day-to-day account written by Adeline Ravoux, (the daughter of the innkeeper where Vincent stayed in his final months). That gave me more thread, and the writing just became so easy from there.

NG: Anything else you’d like to share with us?

JC: Thanks so much!