Houseguest with Jon Klassen

Episode 1: featuring bonus guest Vera Brosgol

Introducing Houseguest: the podcast where Colin and I interview people who sleep over.

Did you guys know that I’m married to musician and writer Colin Meloy? He started a substack a few weeks ago called The Machine Shop. It’s where I got the idea for Slowpoke.

We’ve been talking about Houseguest since we moved to this farm almost a decade ago and found ourselves with some extra space to put up our friends and family. The premise is simple: we interview people who sleep over. Some guests you may know, like children’s literature luminaries Jon Klassen and Vera Brosgol. Some you probably won’t, like my kid’s bestie. All of them will be wonderful because we only let wonderful people sleep over.

The first episode of Houseguest is available now, at The Machine Shop.

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This week’s guest is Jon Klassen. Jon is a Canadian writer and illustrator of children's books and an animator. He won both the American Caldecott Medal and the British Kate Greenaway Medal for children's book illustration, recognizing the 2012 picture book This Is Not My Hat, which he also wrote. His animation projects include design work for DreamWorks Feature Animation as well as LAIKA Studios on their feature film Coraline. Originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jon Klassen now lives in Los Angeles.

Vera Brosgol also appears, secretly. Vera was born in Moscow, Russia in 1984 and moved to the United States when she was five. She has storyboarded for Laika on the feature films Coraline, Paranorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings, as well as for Cartoon Network, Frederator and various commercial projects. Her first picture book, Leave Me Alone, was published in 2016 by Roaring Brook Press and won a Caldecott Honor. She lives in Portland, OR. Vera will likely be a featured guest on Houseguest one day, provided she stays at our house.