Amy Hwang is a

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 ...

for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' and is probably the first Asian woman to have drawn cartoons openly for the magazine. Hwang was born in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

. She graduated from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

in 2000 with a degree in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

. As a first-year at Barnard, Hwang started drawing cartoons for the ''

Columbia Daily Spectator The ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' (known colloquially as ''Spec'') is the student newspaper of Columbia University. Founded in 1877, it is the second-oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after '' The Harvard Crimson'', a ...

'' in 1997. After graduating, she worked at an architecture firm, which she later left so that she could become a cartoonist full-time. She has worked as a cartoonist with ''The New Yorker'' since 2010. Hwang won

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

's 2019 Silver

Reuben Award The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

for

gag cartoon A gag cartoon (also panel cartoon, single-panel cartoon, or gag panel) is most often a single-Panel (comics), panel cartoon, usually including a caption beneath the drawing. In some cases, dialogue may appear in speech balloons, following the com ...

s. She also curated an art exhibit with the cartoonist Jeremy Nguyen called "Asian Babies: Works from Asian 'New Yorker' Cartoonists". The exhibit ran from October 4, 2019, to January 12, 2020, at

Pearl River Mart Pearl River Mart is an Asian-American retail brand and family-run business in New York City. The business was founded in 1971 in Chinatown, Manhattan, as Chinese Native Products by Ming Yi Chen and a group of student activists from China, Hong K ...

, where Hwang held an artist-in-residence position. The exhibit featured the works of ten cartoonists of Asian descent, including Monroe Leung, the first Asian American cartoonist to be published in ''The New Yorker''. In 2021, Hwang spoke on a virtual

New Yorker Festival ''The New Yorker'' Festival is an annual event organized by ''The New Yorker'' magazine. It is held in venues in and around New York City, typically in early October, bringing together "a who's-who of the arts, politics and everything in between." ...

panel titled "Some Very Funny Ladies" alongside Liza Donnelly,

Roz Chast Roz Chast (born November 26, 1954) is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for ''The New Yorker''. Since 1978, she has published more than 1000 cartoons in ''The New Yorker''. She also publishes cartoons in ''Scientific American'' and the ...

and Liana Finck. Hwang is mentioned in Liza Donnelly's 2022 book, ''Very Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Women Cartoonists''. Hwang's cartoon style predominantly consists of clean lines, soft gray washes, with pen and ink on paper.

Resources

External links

Amy Hwang's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hwang, Amy American editorial cartoonists American women editorial cartoonists American humorists Barnard College alumni The New Yorker cartoonists Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Chinese descent People from Arlington, Texas Living people