Jennifer Sheena "Jen" Wang (born March 22, 1984) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, writer and illustrator based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Wang has published graphic books including ''Koko Be Good,'' ''In Real Life'' (with

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...

), and '' The Prince and the Dressmaker''. Wang is a co-founder and organizer for Los Angeles-based comics festival Comic Arts LA. Jen's art work has been published in ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

'' and ''LA Magazine.''

Early life and education

Wang was born in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. Wang's parents are immigrants from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. Wang was raised in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

of California. During high school, Wang was a

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

reader. Wang graduated from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

, first

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

ing in film, but then changed her major to

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Career

Wang started drawing webcomics ''Strings of Fate''. In 2010, Wang wrote her first graphic novel Koko Be Good. In 2014, Wang became the co-founder and organizer of Comic Arts Los Angeles (CALA), which was held at the Think Tank Gallery in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Wang is also the creator of a

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

called ''The White Snake.''

Awards and recognition

* 2014

Cybils Award The Cybils Awards, or Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards, are a set of annual book awards given by people who blog about children's and young adult books. Co-founded by Kelly Herold and Anne Boles Levy in 2006, the awards were c ...

for Best Graphic Novel for ''In Real Life'' by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang. ''In Real Life'' was published by

First Second Books First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint (trade name), imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck, Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual e ...

. ''In Real Life'' is based on Cory Doctorow's short story ''Anda's Game''. * 2018

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

for ''The Prince and the Dressmaker'' tied in a win for Best Children or Young Adult Book. It was nominated in the Book of the Year category as well. * 2019 Eisner Award - best writer/artist for ''The Prince and the Dressmaker''. * 2019 Eisner Award - best publications for teens (ages 13–17) for ''The Prince and the Dressmaker''. * 2020 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in Children's Literature category for ''Stargazing''.

Works

This is a partial list of books written or illustrated by Wang. * 2007 ''Flight Volume 1 & 2'' * 2010 ''Koko Be Good''. As writer and illustrator. Published by

. * 2012 ''Fake Mustache''. As illustrator. Published by Amulet/Abrams. * 2014 ''In Real Life''. Illustrator. * 2014 ''The White Snake'' (serialized) * 2016 ''Lumberjanes: Makin: the Ghost of It''. * 2018 '' The Prince and the Dressmaker''. Published by

. * 2019 ''Stargazing''. Published by First Second. * 2024 ''Ash's Cabin''. Published by First Second.

Personal life

Wang lives in

References

External links

Official site

Jen Wang at goodreads.com

Jen Wang at npr.org

Jen Wang at comicsalliance.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Jen 1984 births American artists of Chinese descent American female comics artists American writers of Taiwanese descent American female comics writers Artists from Berkeley, California The Believer (magazine) people Living people American women writers of young adult literature American writers of young adult literature Writers from Los Angeles American graphic novelists American webcomic creators American women science fiction and fantasy writers 21st-century American women