My Life as a “Troubled Teen”

Bad Kid: My Life as a “Troubled Teen” by Sofia Szamosi is a new YA graphic memoir following Sofia’s adolescence being sent away to residential treatment centres for teenagers. The book explores how damaging labels can be—from Good Kid to Bad Kid—and how they shape our choices and identities throughout our lives. Sarah Alpert at Algonquin Young Readers has acquired North American rights to Bad Kid: My Life as a “Troubled Teen”, and publication is planned for 2025.

Sofia Szamosi’s first YA graphic novel, Unretouchable was recently published by Lerner/Graphic Universe, about the lived experience of the use of image retouching software in the model photography industry. Her fine art has been shown in group and solo shows in New York City, Chicago, and Detroit,  illustrations have been featured in publications such as Sleek Magazine and Vice and she received her BA with honours from NYU’s Gallatin School for Individualized Study in 2017. Sofia Szamosi is also the illustrator for Whole Girl by Sadie Radinsky (Sounds True, Feb 2021). Originally from New York City, she now lives in western Massachusetts.

Sofia Szamos’s agent Jennifer Weltz at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency negotiated the deal for Bad Kid: My Life as a “Troubled Teen”. Jean Naggar established the literary agency in 1978 and in 2004, Jean decided to partner with Jennifer Weltz, who had joined the agency in 1994.

Algonquin Books was founded in 1983 in a woodshed behind cofounder Louis Rubin‘s Chapel Hill, NC, home. He and Shannon Ravenel founded Algonquin as an independent press devoted to publishing literary fiction and nonfiction by undiscovered writers, mostly from the South. Acquired by Workman in 1989, Algonquin expanded to include offices in both New York City and Chapel Hill. In 2013, Algonquin launched the Algonquin Young Readers imprint featuring middle grade and young adult books.

Bad Kid: My Life as a “Troubled Teen” by Sofia Szamosi is a new YA graphic memoir following Sofia’s adolescence being sent away to residential treatment centres for teenagers. The book explores how damaging labels can be—from Good Kid to Bad Kid—and how they shape our choices and identities throughout our lives. Sarah Alpert at Algonquin Young Readers has acquired North American rights to Bad Kid: My Life as a “Troubled Teen”, and publication is planned for 2025.

Sofia Szamosi’s first YA graphic novel, Unretouchable was recently published by Lerner/Graphic Universe, about the lived experience of the use of image retouching software in the model photography industry. Her fine art has been shown in group and solo shows in New York City, Chicago, and Detroit,  illustrations have been featured in publications such as Sleek Magazine and Vice and she received her BA with honours from NYU’s Gallatin School for Individualized Study in 2017. Sofia Szamosi is also the illustrator for Whole Girl by Sadie Radinsky (Sounds True, Feb 2021). Originally from New York City, she now lives in western Massachusetts.

Sofia Szamos’s agent Jennifer Weltz at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency negotiated the deal for Bad Kid: My Life as a “Troubled Teen”. Jean Naggar established the literary agency in 1978 and in 2004, Jean decided to partner with Jennifer Weltz, who had joined the agency in 1994.

Algonquin Books was founded in 1983 in a woodshed behind cofounder Louis Rubin‘s Chapel Hill, NC, home. He and Shannon Ravenel founded Algonquin as an independent press devoted to publishing literary fiction and nonfiction by undiscovered writers, mostly from the South. Acquired by Workman in 1989, Algonquin expanded to include offices in both New York City and Chapel Hill. In 2013, Algonquin launched the Algonquin Young Readers imprint featuring middle grade and young adult books.