Quick Facts @ Svetlana Chmakova

  • Svetlana Chmakova is an internationally published, award-winning manga author
  • Born and raised in Russia and moved to Canada at sixteen to finish high school
  • Attended Sheridan College and received Classical Animation diploma
  • Has more than a dozen published books; were translated into over 13 languages
  • She is a full-time artist and writer who has won many awards for her work
  • Has drawn and written for animation, how-to-draw books, toy designs, and most of all, comics and manga.
  • Has produced several manga series and was a Master Comics Artist-in-Residence at Atlantic Center for The Arts
  • Lives between Toronto, Canada and California.
  • Her hobbies include eating, sleeping, buying far more books than she has shelf space, and riding the subway in the middle of the day, when it’s half-empty, half-full of Very Interesting People.

Highlighted Work

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Awkward

On her first day at her new school, Penelope–Peppi–Torres reminds herself of these basics. But when she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she’s already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the “nerder girlfriend.” How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime and running away!

Surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can’t help feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two, but to make matters worse, he’s a member of her own club’s archrivals–the science club! And when the two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school!

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Brave

In his daydreams, Jensen is the biggest hero that ever was, saving the world and his friends on a daily basis. But his middle school reality is VERY different–math is hard, getting along with friends is hard…Even finding a partner for the class project is a huge problem when you always get picked last. And the pressure’s on even more once the school newspaper’s dynamic duo, Jenny and Akilah, draw Jensen into the whirlwind of school news, social-experiment projects, and behind-the-scenes club drama. Jensen has always played the middle school game one level at a time, but suddenly, someone’s cranked up the difficulty setting. Will those daring daydreams of his finally work in his favor, or will he have to find real solutions to his real-life problems? The charming world of Berrybrook Middle School gets a little bigger in this highly anticipated follow-up to Svetlana Chmakova’s award-winning Awkward with a story about a boy who learns his own way of being brave!

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Crush

Following the overwhelming success of AWKWARD and BRAVE, Svetlana Chmakova’s award winning Berrybrook Middle School series continues with its next installment – CRUSH!

Jorge seems to have it all together. He’s big enough that nobody really messes with him, but he’s also a genuinely sweet guy with a solid, reliable group of friends. The only time he ever really feels off his game is when he crosses paths with a certain girl. But when the group dynamic among the boys starts to shift, will Jorge be able to balance what his friends expect of him versus what he actually wants?

Author Collaboration (as Illustrator)

Witch & wizard. The Manga / James Patterson with Gabrielle Charbonnet & Svetlana Chmakova

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Imagine waking up to find that the world around you – life as you know it – has changed in an instant. That’s what happens to Whit Allgood and his sister, Wisty. They thought that they were just a couple of normal teenagers, until their rude awakening at the hands of a dozen armed police! Charged with being a wizard and a witch, accused of having incredible powers they never dreamed possible, the siblings find themselves the targets of an upstart political regime, The New Order, which has swept the country and vowed to wipe “their kind” from existence. Now Whit and Wisty must fight for both their freedom and their lives as they unlock the powers burning inside of them!

Witch & wizard. 2 / [James Patterson with Ned Rust & Svetlana Chmakova ; adaptation and illustration, Svetlana Chmakova]

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When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.

But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is “The One Who Has the Gift.” While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty’s suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion!

Witch & wizard. 3 : the manga / James Patterson with Jill Dembowski ; art by Svetlana Chmakova

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Although Whit and Wisty’s magic and their control over it have matured, they still find themselves helpless to prevent The One Who Is The One from destroying everyone and everything they hold dear. But there’s a reckoning on the horizon, and the siblings have no choice but to devise a strategy to topple with one decisive blow the tyrant who has devastated their world before he becomes truly all-powerful…

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