Gene Luen Yang Envies Today's Kids' Access to Graphic Novels

As diehard comic book fans, Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang and a friend would, unbeknownst to their parents, sneak from the library to their local comic bookstore, Little Shop of Heroes, buy as many comics as they could, head back to the library, and then smuggle them home in oversized library books. Today, Mr. Yang says his local library has more graphic novels than Little Shop of Heroes did … something for which he envies today’s kids.

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Gene Luen Yang

Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels

Gene Luen Yang

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. American Born Chinese — a memoir about growing up as an Asian American — became the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award and a National Book Award finalist. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award finalist. His other works include Dragon Hoops, the Secret Coders series (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), New Super-Man from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru) and Superman Smashes the Klan (with Gurihiru).

In 2016, Yang was named the 5th National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and selected as a MacArthur Fellow.