Prize-winning comics author/artist speaks at YSU English Fest

YOUNGSTOWN

Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang was a perfect fit for the 2017 Youngstown State University English Festival’s James A. Houck Lecturer, said Tiffany Anderson, Africana Studies director.

“Gene [Yang] has been really excellent in communicating with the kids,” she said. “He has this way of telling interesting stories that combine art with creative writing and storytelling. I think one of the things that’s so great about his presentation is how he can empower [students] to do their own art and writing.”

Yang brought a different aspect of the English and literature world to the 2017 English Festival by the combination of art and novels – also known as comic books.

He is the first graphic novelist to be featured at the Festival. His book “American Born Chinese” won the Printz Award and was a National Book Award nominee, and “Boxers and Saints,” his two-volume novel about the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, won the L.A. Times Book Prize. Yang has written for the Nickelodeon series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and for DC Comic’s Superman!

“It’s so cool for them [the students] to be able to meet authors that they know and love to read,” said Stephanie Gaskins, mother of two home-schooled children at the English Festival.

Read more about the event in Saturday's V'indicator or on Vindy.com.