Trung Le Nguyen (

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

: Nguyễn Lê Trung, born June 2, 1990), also known as Trungles, is a

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans () are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They constitute a major part of all overseas Vietnamese. As of 2023, over 2.3 million people of Vietnamese descent live in the United States, making them the fourth largest Asian Ame ...

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 ...

. He is best known as the author of the graphic novel '' The Magic Fish'', published by Random House Graphic in 2020.

Biography

Early life and career

Trung Le Nguyen was born in a Vietnamese refugee camp somewhere in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Province of Palawan and moved to the United States as a child in 1992. He began drawing comics in middle school but gave up the pastime in college, stating, "I never really thought to make it a career. It always seemed like this fluffy way for me to pass the time". He graduated from

Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...

with a bachelor's degree in

studio art An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

with a minor in

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

in 2012. Originally planning to pursue a career in

arts administration Arts administration (alternatively arts management) is a field in the arts sector that facilitates programming within cultural organizations. Arts administrators are responsible for facilitating the day-to-day operations of the organization as we ...

, he instead chose to pursue a career in comics. Trung's art is noted for its use of traditional inking and penciling and references to Vietnamese imagery, ''shōjo'' manga, and classic

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. He cites

Rose O'Neill Rose Cecil O'Neill (June 25, 1874 – April 6, 1944) was an American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer. She rose to fame for her creation of the popular comic strip characters, Kewpies, in 1909, and was also the first published fema ...

Heinrich Lefler Heinrich Lefler (7 November 1863 – 14 March 1919) was an Austrian painter, graphic artist and stage designer. His father was the painter Franz Lefler. Life and work From 1880 to 1884, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Chris ...

, and

Harry Clarke Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau ...

among his influences. In 2017, Trung was a jurist for the

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

s. Also in 2017 his coloring book ''Fauns & Fairies'' was published by

Oni Press Oni Press is an American independent comic book and graphic novel publisher based in Portland, Oregon, best known for publishing such series as '' Scott Pilgrim'' and ''Rick and Morty''. In 2019, it became an imprint label following the company's ...

under their

erotic comics Erotic comics are adult comics which focus substantially on nudity and sexual activity, either for their own sake or as a major story element. As such they are usually not permitted to be sold to legal minors. Like other genres of comics, they c ...

imprint Limerence Press. In 2018, he was an artist on the

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

romance comics Romance comics are a genre of comic book, comic books that were most popular during the Golden Age of Comics. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of World War II when military ...

anthology ''Twisted Romance'', written by

Alex de Campi Alex de Campi is a British-born American music video director, comics writer and columnist. Career Comics Alex de Campi wrote 2005's mini-series ''Smoke'' (published by IDW Publishing, art by Igor Kordey), which was nominated for the Eisn ...

. In 2020, Random House Graphic published Trung's debut graphic novel ''The Magic Fish''. The book, which follows a young Vietnamese gay immigrant and his parents who bond and learn English through

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

books, was inspired by Trung's upbringing. In 2022, it was reported that Trung's second graphic novel titled ''Angelica And The Bear Prince'' would be published by Random House Graphic in 2025.

Personal life

Trung is gay,

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

, and uses pronouns he/they. He resides in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Bibliography

Accolades

Trung was nominated for a 2021

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

for Best Writer/Artist. ''The Magic Fish'' won two 2021

Harvey Awards 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 wer ...

for Book of the Year and Best Children or Young Adult Book. It was also named a top book on the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

's Rainbow List in 2021, and was selected as one of the best books of 2020 by ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

, and

Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC (also simply known as Nerdist) is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast ( The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a net ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Trung Le 1990 births American comics artists American people of Vietnamese descent American gay artists DC Comics people Hamline University alumni LGBTQ comics creators Living people Marvel Comics writers People from Palawan Artists from Minneapolis Non-binary gay people Non-binary comics writers American non-binary artists American gay writers American non-binary writers 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American artists 21st-century American writers