Belle Yang's Biography
Member Info
Dec 2007
Belle Yang, subject of the PBS documentary, “My Name is Belle,” is often asked whether she is primarily a writer or a painter. Answer: "When I'm writing, I'm a writer; when I'm painting, I'm a painter." Is she a children's author or writers of adult books? "Children, adults and everyone in between. Now I am also a graphic novelist."
Born in Taiwan, Belle Yang spent part of her childhood in Japan. At age seven she immigrated to the United States with her family. She attended Stirling University in Scotland, graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in biology but went on to study art at Pasadena Art Center College of Design and the Beijing Institute of Traditional Chinese Painting.
She worked and traveled in China for three years and returned to the United States late in 1989 after the Tiananmen Massacre.
Illustrated, adult nonfiction:
Baba: A Return to China Upon My Father's Shoulders, 1994 Harcourt Brace
The Odyssey of a Manchurian, 1996 Harcourt Brace
Picture books:
Foo the Flying Frog of Washtub Pond, 2008 Candlewick Press
Always Come Home to Me, 2007 Candlewick Press. Awarded Chinese American Librarian Association Best Picture Book of 2008
Hannah Is My Name, 2004 Candlewick Press
Chili-Chili-Chin-Chin, 1999 Harcourt Brace
Influences
The immigration journey from Taiwan to Japan at age five and then to America at height of the Civil Rights Movement; learning English as my third language; Democracy Spring (1989) and Tiananmen Massacre. Baba’s Manchurian stubbornness and Mama’s Hakka fortitude; the years of stalking that taught me patience and the love of solitude; the benevolent spirit of my great grandfather who was swept out of his estate to wander a beggar under Communism.
Upcoming Works
A graphic memoir with WW Norton, May 2010. "Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale"
Agents
Literary:
Deborah Warren at the East West Agency
Sandra Dijkstra (projects from 1992-2007)
Speech:
Susan Katz at ConnectingAuthors.com
Recommended Links
Publishers
Harcourt Brace
WW Norton
Candlewick Press
About Belle
Belle Yang, subject of the PBS documentary, “My Name is Belle,” is often asked whether she is primarily a writer or a painter. Answer: "When I'm writing, I'm a writer; when I'm painting, I'm a painter." Is she a children's author or writers of adult...
Connections
Causes Belle Yang Supports
826 Valencia Street
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