Self Portrait

Winner of the Rainbow Book of the Year

"I know of no other book that so tenderly, convincingly, and completely authentically captures the quest of a young, queer character. Beautiful!" - Benny Lindelauf

Jip has an assignment from school for spring break: draw a self-portrait. That should be easy for someone who can draw so well. Yet Jip's thoughts keep wandering. To the new boy in class, to beetles and fireflies, to twilight dreaming, to the party next Friday, and especially to the boy who changed Jip's world once and for all.

Ludwig Volbeda writes as he draws: sensitively, intimately, and with striking observations and metaphors that gradually give the reader insight into Jip's innermost thoughts. What results is a magnificent self-portrait in words (and line art) and one of the more exquisite queer coming-of-age stories in years.

Author: Ludwig Volbeda
Publisher: Levine Querido
Published: 11/04/2025
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781646145775
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2025
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 11/01/2025
School Library Journal 11/01/2025 pg. 104
Foreword 10/17/2025
Booklist 11/01/2025

About the Author
Ludwig Volbeda is a Dutch author and illustrator who has won the highest awards for both writing and illustration of children's books in his country. He likes to fill his walls and sketchbooks with small notes, drawings, cartoons, and short stories; he has a fascination with everything small, such as buttons and beetles. His young adult debut, Self Portrait, was voted Rainbow Book of the Year by readers in the Netherlands.

Lucy Scott is a translator of Dutch and French literature into English. Her translated novel excerpts have appeared in The Georgia Review and in Elektrik: Caribbean Writing. She has translated, solo or with co-translator David McKay, two full-length works of adult fiction from Astrid Roemer: On a Woman's Madness, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025 and shortlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature; and Off-White.