Q&A with Sandra Nickel

 

 

 

Sandra Nickel is the author of the new children's picture book Making Light Bloom: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Lamps. Her other books include Nacho's Nachos. She lives in Switzerland. 

 

Q: Why did you decide to write a picture book about Clara Driscoll (1861-1944), designer of the famous Tiffany lamps?

 

A: One of my missions as a picture book author is to bring forward individuals who have been nearly forgotten by history. Clara Driscoll is definitely one of these people.

 

For years, Louis Comfort Tiffany got the credit for innovating her lamps. But it was Clara who was integral to each step of making these iconic pieces of American decorative art. She dreamed up the idea. She engineered the process for making them. She supervised a team of “Tiffany girls” who did the hands-on work.

 

And, she chose the color variations, which resulted in each lamp—even those with the same patterns—becoming a one-and-only piece of art. It really is astounding all that she did!

 

Q: What do you think Julie Paschkis’s illustrations--which look like Tiffany designs!--add to the book?

 

A: Julie’s illustrations are inspired! Most readers won’t have had the chance to see one of Clara’s lamps up close. With Julie’s illustrations, readers are immersed in the beauty and vibrancy of stained glass with each turn of the page.  

 

Q: The Booklist review of the book calls it a “terrific blend of art and social history set in an absorbing biography about an unacknowledged genius.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I’m extraordinarily honored by that review, as I am by all three of the starred reviews. I particularly love the reference to social history and how it honors Clara’s lived experience.

 

It recognizes this snapshot of a woman’s life as she travelled to New York, the city of opportunity, supported her family, and lifted up the women around her, all while she was turning her love of gardens into a new and enduring form of decorative art.

 

Q: What do you see as Clara Driscoll’s legacy today?

 

A: There was a time when Clara’s lamps were viewed as outmoded. I suppose a lot of art goes through a journey of being loved, unloved, and then loved again.

 

Well, Clara’s lamps have solidly landed in “loved again.” Museums vie to have them in their collections. Private collectors pay millions of dollars for them. There is even a tattoo artist who is known for her Clara-like lamp creations.

 

I hope that Making Light Bloom will help spread the word that this legacy is thanks to Clara.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: The next book I have coming out is The True Ugly Duckling, How Hans Christian Andersen Became a Swan (Spring 2026, Levine Querido).

 

In addition to the excitement of being the author, I also auditioned to be the narrator of the recorded version. I’m delighted to say that I got the job! I’m currently working out the details for when and where I will do the recording.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Yes! I’ll be doing a book tour for Making Light Bloom in October. I will be joining a panel at the New Hampshire Book Festival, be presenting at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., doing a storytime at New York Historical, doing a delayed book launch in New York City, and presenting an Evening for Educators at the Corning Museum of Glass.

 

I will also be doing events in Cleveland and Wichita, which I’m still sorting out.

 

I’ll be posting details on my website and across social media, so if any of your readers live nearby, I hope they will stop by and say hi! I would love to meet them. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb