Gene Luen Yang appeared in the Graphic Novels Super Session at the 2014 Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

Speaker Biography: Gene Luen Yang is a writer of both graphic novels and comics. His work “American Born Chinese” is a creative text that chronicles the Asian-American experience in a way that resonates with teen readers. It was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award; it was also a winner of the 2007 Eisner Award. “Boxers & Saints” (First Second) is a two-volume project that set during the Boxer Rebellion, a war that took place on Chinese soil over 100 years ago between the Boxers (anti-Christians) and their Chinese Christian enemies during a time of national turmoil. This historically based fiction offers two perspectives, as “Boxers” focuses on the story of Little Bao, a boy who becomes a leader of the Boxer Rebellion, and “Saints” follows the story of Vibiana, a girl from the same village who becomes a Christian. “Boxers & Saints” was a National Book Award finalist, noted on Booklist’s Top 10 Religious Books for Youth, awarded Library Journal’s Best Book of the Year and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Yang believes both graphic novels and comics can be used effectively as educational tools in the classroom. He teaches at Hamline University as part of the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

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