First Second’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Creators

Harmony Becker was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the illustrator of George Takei’s graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy. She currently lives in Mexico City

Nidhi Chanani was born in Kolkata, India and raised in California. She creates illustrations that capture love in everyday moments which are often featured at Disney Parks. In 2012 she was honored by the Obama Administration as a Champion of Change. She’s the author of Pashmina, Shubh Raatri Dost/Good Night Friend, and illustrator of I Will Be Fierce. Nidhi draws and dreams in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and kid.

Hiromi Goto is an emigrant from Japan who gratefully lives on the Unceded Musqueam, Skwxwú7mesh, and Tsleil Waututh Territories. She’s written Chorus of Mushrooms, The Kappa Child, along with several novels for children and youth, a book of poetry, and a collection of short stories.

Kiku Hughes is a cartoonist and illustrator based in the Seattle area. Her work has been featured in Beyond Anthology volumes 1 and 2, Short Box #6, and the Alloy Anthology. She creates stories about identity, queer romance and compassionate sci-fi. Displacement is her first graphic novel, and it is a story she’s wanted to share for as long as she can remember.

Derek Kirk Kim is the author of Same Difference and Tune, and the winner of the trifecta of comics awards – the Eisner, the Ignatz, and the Harvey.

Robert Kondo was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles. As a child, he learned art from his mother, a trained fashion designer, which led him to study illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. For twelve years, he worked at Pixar Animation Studios as an art director on films like Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, and Monsters University.

Sloane Leong is a self-taught cartoonist, artist, and writer of Hawaiian, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Native American, and European ancestries. Her work aims to connect personally with individuals through storytelling and to cultivate a kinder, more understanding future. She has been self-publishing her own comics since she was sixteen and has done various work for companies like Image Comics, First Second, Top Cow, Cartoon Network, DC, Dark Horse, Boom!, Namco, and BuzzFeed. She is currently living near Portland, Oregon.

LeUyen Pham lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two sons, a cat, and an orange gecko. She is the author/illustrator of the books Big Sister, Little Sister, A Piece of Cake, The Itchy Book, and Outside, Inside. She is also the illustrator of over 100 books for kids, including Vampirina Ballerina by Anne Marie Pace, Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio, and The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman. Her illustrations have won numerous awards, including the prestigious Caldecott Honor for Bear Came Along with Richard Morris.

Thien Pham is a comic book and visual artist. Pham illustrated Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up, a YALSA Great Graphic Novel and New York Times Notable Children’s Book. 

Jason Shiga was born and raised in Oakland, California. He is the author of Meanwhile, Empire State, Fleep, Bookhunter, and over twenty other comic books and graphic novels. He is also the creator of the world’s second-largest interactive comic. His comics have a geeky side and often feature exciting uses of mathematics and unusual structural forms.

Jillian Tamaki is an illustrator and comics artist. She is the co-creator of Skim and This One Summer, and the author of SuperMutant Magic Academy and Boundless (2017). She has taught comics and illustration in New York City at SVA and The New School.

Mariko Tamaki writes comic books for BOOM! Studios, Marvel and DC Comics. She is the co-creator of the New York Times bestseller, This One Summer with Jillian Tamaki, which received Eisner and Governor General awards, as well as Caldecott and Printz Honors.

Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, originally from Japan, is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Dice has worked as an artist at Blue Sky Studios on Ice Age, Robots, and Horton Hears a Who! and as an art director at Pixar on Toy Story 3 and Monsters University. Along the way, Dice spearheaded charity projects like the Totoro Forest Project and Sketchtravel.

Utomaru is a freelance illustrator, art director, and graphic designer based in Tokyo, Japan. She studied graphic design at Tama Art University, and there she developed her art style: bold line art, vivid colors, and dynamic composition. Her main influences and inspirations arrive from cartoons by Fleischer Studio and Tex Avery and both American and Japanese comics, animation, and movie posters from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Jen Wang is a cartoonist, author, and illustrator living in Los Angeles. She is the author of The Prince and the Dressmaker, Koko Be Good, and co-author of the New York Times Bestselling graphic novel In Real Life with Cory Doctorow. Her work has also appeared in Los Angeles Magazine, The Believer, Hazlitt, Slate, and McSweeney’s. She has also written for the Adventure Time and Lumberjanes comic series. She is the co-founder and organizer of the annual festival Comics Arts Los Angeles.

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second Books, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award finalist. His other works include the Secret Coders series (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), New Super-Man from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru). He was the fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and in 2016 he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.

Ann Xu is an Ignatz-nominated cartoonist and illustrator working in Baltimore. She graduated with a BFA in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2017. Her graphic novel work includes Shadow Life and Measuring Up.