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Reading Without Walls

Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 2006, his graphic novel, 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. He is the author of the Secret Coders series and has written for the hit comics Avatar: The Last Airbender and Superman. In 2016, Yang was named the 5th National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and selected as a MacArthur Fellow. Visit Gene Yang's official website.
The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature raises awareness of the importance of young people's literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people. The initiative is sponsored by The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council, and Every Child a Reader.
Meet Superstar Web Cartoonist Ngozi Ukazu
At the 2017 Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle, Gene meets up with Ngozi Ukazu, creator of the popular web comic, Check Please! — the quirky story of a pie-baking college hockey player.
Ngozi has been putting pictures and words together since elementary school. She was the comics editor in high school and kept on drawing in college. She graduated from Yale University in 2013 with a degree in Computing and The Arts, and received a masters in Sequential Art in 2015 from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
In this podcast, Gene and Ngozi bond over their shared love of animated TV shows (Justice League, The Simpsons) and sitcoms from the 90s. Learn more about Ngozi and her work >
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