AMERICAN BORN CHINESE lost out at the National Book Awards to M.T. Anderson’s The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party, but Anderson gave a shout out in his acceptance speech:
In his acceptance speech, Anderson made a point of noting that Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese” was the first graphic novel nominated for a National Book Award. “There is a lot of dithering in the blogosphere,” he said, about whether graphic novels are worthy. This can now be laid to rest.
We also have a photo from the gala evening, courtesy of Calvin Reid: (l. to r.) Mark Siegel, agent Judy Hanson, Lark Pien, Theresa Yang and Gene Yang. (Click for larger version.)
That was very cool of Anderson to make mention of ABC’s merit during his acceptance speech. Much respect to Gene Yang!