Gene Luen Yang to Keynote #ILAAC18

May 25, 2018

Gene Luen Yang will present the keynote address, Reading Without Walls, at the 2018 ILA Annual Conference on Tuesday, October 9, at the Peoria Civic Center. Yang was the 2016-17 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. He began drawing comic books in the fifth grade, and in 1997 he received a Xeric Grant for his first comic, Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan’s Kingdom, The Rosary Comic Book, and Prime Baby. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. He also won an Eisner for The Eternal Smile, a collaboration with Derek Kirk Kim. He is the author of the Secret Coders series (with artist Mike Holmes) and has written for the hit comics Avatar: The Last Airbender and Superman. In addition to cartooning, he teaches creative writing through Hamline University's MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Visit ila.org/conference for conference and registration information.