Check out this recent interview in The Comics Reporter with graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang: CR Sunday Interview: Gene Luen Yang.
His recently published Prime Baby
was collected from a run of strips in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. It's a really charming, funny book. In the interview, Gene mentions three inspirations for Prime Baby: 1. The sibling rivalry I witnessed at home after my second kid was born.Gene posted the original free-write exercise on his blog here. He also recently posted a cool entry on the making of Prime Baby, starting with a script then moving on to sketches:
2. A prime numbers project I assign to my students, and their inevitable questions about its relevance to real life.
3. A free-write exercise I did several years ago.
It's a pretty cool behind-the-scenes look at Gene's process.
If you're in Washington DC, Gene will be participating in the Booklist Youth Forum at the American Library Association Conference this Friday. He'll be joining editor Mark Siegel, illustrator Matt Phelan, and underground comix legend Francoise Mouly for a discussion on comics. The forum is from 8pm-10pm in the Washington DC Convention Center, Room 144A-C.
And if you're in San Francisco, on Saturday and Sunday, Gene will be at the Asian Art Museum talking comics as part of their AsiaAlive program. Here are some more details:
AsiaAlive: ComicsFor more information about the event, go here. As you can tell, I'm a huge fan of Gene's work. Not only is he an immensely talented storyteller, he's also just the nicest guy. For more info on Gene and his comics, go to his website here.
Saturday and Sunday
June 26 and 27
12:00 noon-4:00 pm
Samsung Hall
Comic strips and books have many roles throughout history; they serve as entertainment, political commentary, propaganda, and personal storytelling. Award-winning comics artist Gene Yang (author of American Born Chinese, Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks) discusses his creative process and his love for the comic medium. In addition to a technical discussion on the features of this medium, Yang will share his personal history as a Chinese-American, the inspiration for many of his books.