Congratulations to 2024 Steinbeck Award recipient Gene Luen Yang

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. He was named a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in 2016, and advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. His graphic novel American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner, has been adapted into an original series on Disney+. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the LA Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His nonfiction graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, received an Eisner award and a Printz honor. His other comics work includes Lunar New Year Love Story (with LeUyen Pham), The Books of Clash series (with Les McClaine, Alison Acton, and Kendall Goode), Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), and Superman Smashes the Klan and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series (both with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.

When I closed The Grapes of Wrath, I was a different man.

The John Steinbeck Award is given to writers, artists, thinkers, and activists whose work captures Steinbeck’s empathy, commitment to democratic values, and belief in the dignity of people who by circumstance are pushed to the fringes.

First presented in 1996, the John Steinbeck Award is sponsored by the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies. Ted Cady, the chair of the Center’s award selection committee and Event Director for the Student Union, has organized all of the Award presentations and has brought each of the honorees to appreciate the Award’s meaning and the importance of Steinbeck’s legacy here at San José State.