Constellations: a graphic novel about growing up transgender, and addiction. Interview with author Kate Glasheen

In August, the young adult graphic novel Constellations was presented by its author Kate Glasheen in the bookshop / coffee shop Pagu in Haapsalu. Kate talked with Stefanie Blümel from Feministeerium about their creative process, addiction, the friction a gender ambiguous body brings one in society, and self-acceptance. Let’s dive into Kate’s inspiring world of art and writing.

Kate Glasheen, Constellations, 2023.

You recently released your new graphic novel; Constellations. What inspired you, and could you give us a brief summary of the book?

Constellations is a Young Adult graphic novel following a blue collar teen in an ex-industrial city of upstate New York, USA.

It’s 1986 and Claire has always felt more like a boy than the girl they were born as. But in the depressed, upstate city of Troy, New York, that’s always been a problem. So as raided liquor cabinets and keg parties serve as rites of passage for some, Claire instead finds alcohol to be the salve they need to medicate the gap between who they are and who they feel they are.

Addiction is brutal, but addicts were all kids once, not getting something crucial they needed to grow into whole adults.

A drunken bicycle crash lands Claire in court-ordered rehab amongst a crew of fellow misfits also in dire need of help. It’s there that they meet Charlie, the kind but seasoned case worker who leads the teens in a different kind of classroom where lessons of maths and English matter much less than those of survival. 

What research did you do for Constellations and how did that inform your story?

 This book is Claire’s story for sure, but their story is that of our shared experiences. I’ve spent time in rehab for substance abuse, and I’m trans but I struggle with it, with a lot of the reasons coming from my time growing up in Troy in the ’80s. So all of the material in this book is pulled from or inspired by events in my own life, though Claire’s version covers just a few years in a sort of curated representation of all my 40.

Kate Glasheen. Photo: Jason Chen, 2019.

What was your creative process like? Were there any challenges?

I usually work on writing and drawing simultaneously. I love the energy of working on a sketch, which sparks an idea for the writing, which inspires an idea for drawing… and this keeps up until one drops the prompt and I hit a temporary creative dead end. It’s an awesome feeling when the two mediums are harmonizing like that, really alive and kinetic, and definitely my absolute favorite part of the process of making comics.

Misery is a black hole that pulls in and traps things. Once stuck in misery’s gravitational prison long enough, people can lose the ability to communicate through any other way but more misery.

However, the personal nature of this book, the sensitivity of the subject matter, and the gravity of working with Holiday House, my biggest publisher yet, had me nervous and hyper conscious enough that my process became much more reserved. I worked very much in stages on this one. Scrips, thumbnails, pencils, inks, and then watercolors were all their own distinct stages. 

What themes and messages do you hope to convey with Constellations?

Addiction is brutal, but addicts were all kids once, not getting something crucial they needed to grow into whole adults. Simultaneously, gender’s at the center of this story but this story predates the contemporary conversation around gender.

So Claire’s revelations on these things, and the rest of the kids’ revelations on these things, are simple. They’re unadulterated. It makes me wonder and hope that their clumsy earnestness has the potential to sidestep some degree of the knee-jerk reactivity all tangled up in the zeitgeist and maybe create an opening for empathy that was previously closed.

Are there particular symbols or metaphors in your book that have special meaning to you, and what do you think are the strongest aspects of Constellations?

The most prominent metaphor and theme in this book is related to space. On the spectrum of survival, one end of the metaphor is the black hole as misery. How misery pulls in and traps things. How, once stuck in misery’s gravitational prison long enough, people can lose the ability to communicate through any other way but more misery. Or if you’re born into it, you may have never learned another way.

If you made something for everyone you didn’t make art, you made candy.

The other end of the metaphor is through constellations, self-made maps of the night sky. First represented through glow in the dark star stickers on Claire’s bedroom walls, they begin as chaos amplifiers, nonsensical and overwhelming. Through personal growth these individual stars later shift to parts of a whole — systems to find their bearings through, navigational touchstones to find their way back to themselves should they find themselves lost again.

Kate Glasheen, Constellations, 2023.

I think the strongest moments in Constellations are a result of the attention given to layouts. There’s so much potential in layouts for communication beyond the material it’s framing. A chance for hidden messages, blatant messages, symbolism, motif, any of the literary devices. Opportunities to bolster the action on the page, to amplify the emotions going down. 

I’m trans, and I struggle with it, in no small part because of how it was to grow up that way in Troy, NY in the ’80s and ’90s.

Layouts can be loaded with so much meaning that, to me, it feels like a disservice to the medium to only treat layouts like math. They have the potential to be a wildly expressive tool. It can be tough though, because it is a creative risk. It asks more of a reader than traditional layouts do. It can be extra work and people aren’t always up for that. 

So balancing expression with clarity is its own challenge, and then where that balance is between the two is different for everyone, it’s a moving target. It’s not unlike the meeting point of identity and its perception. But it’s worth it to me to try to get there, and missing in someplace is a worthy sacrifice to really hit in others. Just like it’s worth it to me if what I do ends up alienating some readers to be able to make exactly what another is looking for. Because if you made something for everyone you didn’t make art, you made candy.

Did you incorporate any personal experiences or adventures into Constellations, and how did writing this book change or grow you as a writer?

Yes, I think it threads through what we’ve discussed somewhat but more specifically, much of the content of this book is either inspired by or pulled directly from events in my own life. A curated collection of my entire 40 years, arranged to help build a contained narrative. 

The time and place I grew up just did not have the information I would have needed to understand my transness.

I spent time in rehab myself, the first stint was as a teen and the second at the age of 32. The camaraderie, deception, and heartbreak in those walls made for some of the most powerful moments I’d ever been a part of. The people were complicated but the brutality was simple; the stakes were so high and it made it all so poignant.

I wanted to make a story about that, both to share the experience with folks who haven’t had it themselves and to offer a different version of it to those who have. It was more about Claire’s time in rehab than it was about Claire at first, but as work continued on the project it became harder and harder to talk about why Claire was in rehab without dragging my own baggage onto the pages.

I also grew up in Troy, NY in the ’80s and ’90s. I’m trans, and I struggle with it, in no small part because of how it was to grow up that way.

Kate Glasheen, Constellations, 2023.

This project helped me grow as a writer on a technical level in the simple way practice makes you better at things. I’ve always loved to write, but I completed my education in visual art so I just have so much more time and practice under my belt with drawing and painting than the written word. I’m always hungry to get better with both, and the only way to do that is through practice. 

On a personal level, however, this book was my lifesaver. The time and place I grew up just did not have the information I would have needed to understand my transness. This disconnect between my self and knowing myself, teamed with the friction a gender ambiguous body brings one in the society I experience is behind much of the difficulty I’ve had in my life. 

I see librarians being absolute heroes risking their careers and personal safety to protect our right to read banned books and my gratitude to them is immense.

Constellations, with the filter of its historical fiction lens and the distance of a fictional protagonist living my experiences, allowed me to sift through my life, understand it and myself better in a very specific way. This book about therapy became a form of therapy crucial to moving towards my own self acceptance.

You launched Constellations in Haapsalu on Saturday, August 5th. Why did you come to Estonia and why did you choose Haapsalu for this event?

One of my best friends from college married an Estonian man and I’ve been trying to visit them here for a long time. I was finally able to arrange the trip, along with my friends in our crew of found family. The two live in Haapsalu and recommended Adam’s shop to me, Pagu. I reached out via social media and Adam was kind enough to both host the event and offer shelf space for Constellations. 

Kate Glasheen, Constellations, 2023.

In some US states books like yours have been banned or threatened to be banned. What do you think about banning books like yours just because some people don’t want their children to read about topics like sexuality and gender?

I think it’s terrible, especially when so many other fascist policies are making their way into our way of life, and especially when we have some very specific examples from the previous century and where book bans can lead. And yes, as of this interview my book is not yet banned, but it is ripe with what will get it banned. Queer stuff AND gender AND drugs! I think it’s related to exposure and I assume Constellations needs to make it into enough hands for it to hit the critical mass of censorship. 

My book is not yet banned, but it is ripe with what will get it banned. Queer stuff AND gender AND drugs!

I also see librarians being absolute heroes protecting folks’ access to these titles. They risk their careers and personal safety to protect our right to read these books and my gratitude to them is immense. I also see how readers rush in to support a book when it gets banned. I have heard that your book getting banned is actually excellent for sales, and that’s because so many folks are pushing back against this censorship with their wallets. It’s very scary stuff, and it’s easy to feel hopeless about the direction of my country. But the efforts of those who fight back gives me hope.

Kate Glasheen, Constellations, 2023.