For the first time in Young People’s Literature history, a graphic novelist has been honoured the National Ambassador post. Gene Luen Yang, the comic and graphic novel writer, is the chosen one who was previously a first generation American as he harnessed his love of computer programming.
“When I was coming up in the ’90s, the comic book industry and the book industry were largely separate; they had their own awards, distribution systems and stores,” Yang said but now, “these worlds are really converging in interesting ways.”
Being the ambassador, his main goal is to promote great books and since graphic novels are at a backstand, Yang will be giving them a bit of an extra push.
Yang began drawing comics in fifth grade, and his rise as a cartoonist began two decades ago when he received the Xeric grant for his self-published Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks. About a decade later American Born Chinese was launched which went on to receive the Eisner Award. The graphic novel explores stereotypes and senses of multiple identities and is the only graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award.
Yang’s stories leapfrog genres and often pose questions about acceptance, identity and culture. His other books include Boxers and Saints (2013), a work of historical fiction with lots of mysticism set during the Boxer Rebellion in China; and Secret Coders (2015), illustrated by Mike Holmes, about students solving mysteries at an unsettling school (The text slyly teaches readers basic computer coding.) In June Yang joined the group of writers working on Superman for DC Comics.
“It is difficult to impress any kid that you see on a daily basis,” Yang said. The same is true for his children’s reactions to his books, though all of them are avid readers. “They tell me they like them, but they like other people’s books better than mine,” he adds.
Yang will serve a two-year term and appear at events like the Children’s Choice Book Awards, where he will announce the winners in May. He will also promote ‘Reading Without Walls’, a platform he developed with the book council and his publisher, and ‘First Second’, that aims to excite young people about reading outside their comfort zones. “A huge part of being a kid is exploring the world,” he said. “Books are a bridge between them and what might be unfamiliar.”