There seems to be a small genre forming of picture books about the intersection of fabric and spaceflight! I previously interviewed author Elise Matich about her fascinating book about Jean Wright, Sew Sister. Then there’s my own book, Almost Underwear. And now, to my excitement, astronaut Dr. Karen Nyberg has written a beautiful new book with my friend Ann McCallum Staats (also featured here before). I caught up with them to learn more:
Me: Congratulations on A QUILT OF STARS: Astronaut Karen Nyberg Stitches a Dream (Familius, Sept. 2026)! What a great story, I love seeing the creative side of astronauts! What inspired the two of you to write this book?
Karen: This is a story I’ve been wanting to share for a long time. It’s deeply personal, but it also has a larger theme of connectedness. Living on the International Space Station and looking down at the Earth we all share had a profound impact on me.
Ann and I first connected when she included a chapter about me in a book for an older audience. Later, we saw an opportunity to work together on a book focused on the Astronomical Quilts! Block Challenge, a story I had been wanting to tell. We knew we wanted to share it with younger readers who would be curious about space and could also relate to the intersection of art and science. A picture book seemed like a natural fit, especially because the illustrations could add so much to the story.
Ann: I came across Karen’s story when I was doing research for a previous book called High Flyers: 15 Inspiring Women Aviators and Astronauts, a young adult book. I admired the way Karen worked so determinedly to become an astronaut, despite her humble roots (She comes from a tiny town where nobody expected her to achieve such a lofty dream!). When I wrote her chapter in High Flyers, it was more about the astounding hurdles she overcame to become an astronaut versus the story of the quilt project she started in space. Still, the idea of sewing a quilt square while living on the International Space Station and then inviting the world to participate in a community quilt project intrigued me. When we connected later after High Flyers came out, Karen and I talked about this part of her story. We envisioned writing a picture book that would target younger readers and focus on the connection between gazing down at a patchwork Earth and inviting the world to contribute to a community quilt.
Me: Your book covers a lot of ground, from youthful inspiration to inspiring others. Were there parts of the story you wanted to include but couldn’t quite fit (but can learn more about elsewhere)?
Karen: There’s a lot about other people, especially my family, that doesn’t fit in A Quilt of Stars. My son was three years old when I was offered the opportunity to live and work on the International Space Station for 166 days. I knew it was important to go, but I also worried about leaving my young son for so long. There wasn’t room in the book to include all the ways I tried to maintain that mother-son bond while I was in space. One of those was the dinosaur I sewed for him. At the time, he was obsessed with dinosaurs, and making it was one small way for me to stay connected to him from so far away.
There are also so many individual stories behind the quilt project that we couldn’t possibly include. Each block came from a person or group somewhere in the world who chose to be part of this shared project. That sense of connection was one of the things that made the experience so meaningful to me. The finished quilts brought together people, places, and cultures in a very tangible way, and there’s much more to that story than we could tell in a picture book.
Ann: When I wrote about Karen in High Flyers, there was room to discuss more of her childhood and then her step-by-step journey to finally get accepted into NASA’s astronaut program. There’s a ton of inspiration in learning about the grit and tenacity it took to achieve this lifelong dream (NASA first opened their doors to women in 1978, and this is when Karen first announced to her family that she wanted to become an astronaut.). Including all the obstacles and hard work it took to travel to the stars is too much for a picture book, especially since the focus is on the metaphor of our pieced-together world once Karen was already in space.
Me: The illustrations by Alida Massari are stunning! Did you see the art as it was being developed? Any spreads that wowed you the most?
Karen: We saw early sketches along with the color palette for the book. I was especially drawn to the palette Alida chose, and I really enjoyed seeing how the illustrations developed.
It’s hard to choose favorites, but one is the spread of me as a little girl looking out over the lake and dreaming about space. I actually grew up on a lake in Minnesota, so that one feels especially personal to me. I also really like the spread with photos of my family attached to the wall of the Space Station. Seeing our two current dogs included in those photos was a sweet surprise, even though they obviously weren’t around when I was in space! Throughout the book, I also like the way the illustrations bring science and art together, two things that have always been important parts of my life.
Ann: As with most of my illustrated books, the publisher took the lead on choosing the illustrator. It wasn’t until she’d completed her sketches that Karen and I were able to sit down and see Alida’s vision and what she had done. Fortunately, we were absolutely thrilled with the results. One of my favorites is the very first spread that shows Karen as a little girl looking up at the stars. To me, this image indicates possibility, the beginnings of a dream that at first seemed impossible. I also love the illustration of Karen in the cupola gazing down on Earth. Here she’s seeing a quilt-like world below where there are no visible borders or wars or other human-made problems. It’s a lead-up and a metaphor to the quilt project later in the book, a symbol of how we are all individuals but have a shared humanity.
Me: Careers in both the arts and science can be quite competitive. What advice do you have for students who want to follow their dreams in the sciences or the arts – or both?!
Karen: I always encourage young people to choose a path that genuinely interests them. Becoming an astronaut was a very big goal, and I knew there was no guarantee I would ever get there. I chose engineering because I enjoyed math and science and knew it could lead to a career I would be happy with even if I never became an astronaut.
Whatever path you choose, if you enjoy what you’re doing, you’re more likely to put in the time and effort it takes to get better at it and stick with it when things get difficult. And I definitely don’t think you have to choose between science and art. Both have always been important parts of my life.
Ann: I love how this story combines science and art. I think that creativity is so important to success. When young people follow their dreams, they should include the opportunity for art and imagination, even if it doesn’t appear to be directly related. Both science and art involve innovation and tapping into the ‘what if’ part of the brain. Besides that, both science and art are fun—I think that Karen’s story of combining the two is a powerful motivator for the rest of us.
Me: It looks like you’re doing a number of events, apart or together. Tell us about where readers can meet you in the next month or two.
Ann: We’re doing a number of local events, but also several things around the country, too. In the DC area, we kick things off at the National Children’s Museum on September 26 at 10:00 a.m. In October we’ll be at the Air & Space Museum on October 30 at 10:30. We’ll also be in Miami at the Frost Museum on Oct. 9 where they’re projecting images from the book onto the planetarium ceiling. Then we head to Houston November 13-14. There we’ll start at the International Quilt Festival, which is where the actual 28 king-size quilts were displayed when Karen first came back to Earth. We’ll be at the Johnson Space Center the next day. The last together-event for 2026 is in Seattle at the Museum of Flight on December 19.
We both also have some independent appearances. For example, in November I’m doing two events in British Columbia, Canada, November 21 and 22. Locally, I’ll be at Barnes & Noble Fairfax on October 3 at 11:00 to 2:00 and then at Scrawl Books on October 24 at 10:30. In December I’m scheduled to be at the Sparklemart Festival in Greenbelt, Maryland, on the 6th.
We have more events in the works as well, so stay tuned!
Finally, we also want to share the book trailer which gives a better sense of what the book is about. P.S. It includes an original song as well as space photos from Karen’s personal collection! Link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Xkc05M5k0
Me: Thank you so much for chatting. Wishing your book much success!
To learn more, please visit Children’s Book Author | Ann McCallum Books and Karen Nyberg – Astronaut. Artist. Earth Advocate.
