Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang Thursday became the first Asian American to win the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
He is also the first graphic novelist to be given the honor.
The award has been presented every other year since 2003 by the Neustadt family and World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture.
Yang wlll receive his honor at the 2023 Neustadt Lit Fest.
The School Library Journal reports Trung Le Nguyen, an award-winning comics writer and artist, nominated Yang for the prize and chose his debut novel, American Born Chinese to represent Yang’s work.
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Yang received the Printz Award for that book and also a nomination for a National Book Award.
American Born Chinese is also being made into a series on Disney+ with Yang, Kelvin Yu (Bob’s Burger) and Melvin Mar (Fresh off the Boat) serving as executive producers.
Yang will receive $35,000, a silver medallion, and a certificate at a public ceremony at the University of Oklahoma. He will also be featured in a subsequent issue of World Literature Today.
The award goes every other year “to a living writer or author-illustrator with significant achievement in children’s or young-adult literature,” according to the award’s website.
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