Grace Lin

Lin was born in 1974 to a Taiwanese American family in New Hartford, New York. Her parents are Jer-Shang Lin, a doctor, and Lin-Lin Lin, a botanist.{{Cite web |title=TeachingBooks {{!}} Author & Book Resources to Support Reading Education |url=https://www.teachingbooks.net/interview.cgi?id=95&a=1- |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.teachingbooks.net}}{{Cite web |title=Lin, Grace 1974– {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/lin-grace-1974 |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}{{Cite web |title=Grace Lin |url=https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Grace-Lin/629410 |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Britannica Kids |language=en-US}} She grew up in upstate New York, where she and her two sisters, Beatrice and Alice, were the only Asian students at their elementary school.{{Cite web |last=Blais |first=Madeleine |title=A Touch of Grace |url=https://www.slj.com/story/a-touch-of-grace |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=School Library Journal}}{{Cite web |date=2013-08-09 |title=A video interview with Grace Lin |url=https://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/lin |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Reading Rockets |language=en}} Lin started creating books during her childhood, and in seventh grade, she entered a national book contest for students, winning fourth place and $1000.{{Cite web |title=Interview with Grace Lin |url=https://www.pmc.edu/academics/mfa/mfa-faculty-staff/faculty-interviews/grace-lin-interview/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Pine Manor College |language=en-US}}

She later attended Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1996 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) in children's book illustration.{{Cite web |title=Artists Start Early {{!}} RISD |url=https://www.risd.edu/news/stories/risd-alums-curate-now-and-then-exhibition-at-eric-carle-museum |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.risd.edu}}Lim, Ji H. "Drawing the Child Inside: Grace Lin." Asianweek, 2001, pp. 22.

After graduating from RISD and failing to garner attention from publishers, Lin worked for a giftware company, where she designed t-shirts and mugs.{{Cite web |last=Walton |first=Julie |date=July 8, 2010 |title=Q & A with Grace Lin |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/43773-q-a-with-grace-lin.html.}} After a couple of years, she got laid off from that job and decided to pursue her dream of being a children’s book author and illustrator. A senior editor from Charlesbridge Publishing contacted Lin after taking notice of her illustration samples, inquiring if she had a story to go along with these illustrations. At the time, Lin did not have a story ready, but told the editor that she did. Eventually, she created a corresponding story for these samples, ultimately publishing her first book, The Ugly Vegetables, in 1999.{{Cite web |title=Grace Lin |url=https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/3da5b9a5-124a-48c2-bb60-6926d5475ac0/3da5b9a5-124a-48c2-bb60-6926d5475ac0/ |access-date=2021-06-24 |website=PBS LearningMedia |language=en}} She has since published more than 25 books, many of which she illustrated herself. Lin continues to write and illustrate.Zhuang, Victoria. "Grace Lin Led the Way on Diversity in Children's Literature." Boston Globe, 2021, pp. N.1. Some of her work is housed in the University of Connecticut archives.{{Cite web |title=Collection: Grace Lin Papers {{!}} UConn Archives & Special Collections ArchivesSpace |url=https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/947 |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu}}

In 2016, Lin gave a TEDx presentation entitled "The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf," in which she advocates for increased awareness of diversity in children’s books.{{Citation |title=The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child's Bookshelf {{!}} Grace Lin {{!}} TEDxNatick | date=18 March 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wQ8wiV3FVo |language=en |access-date=2022-05-02}} Since 2017, Lin has written nine commentaries for the New England Public Radio, most often writing about her personal experiences as a parent and Asian American author.{{Cite web |title=Grace Lin |url=https://www.nepm.org/people/grace-lin |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=New England Public Media |language=en}} In 2017 and 2018, she appeared on PBS NewsHour, speaking on representations of race and culture in children’s literature.{{Cite web |date=2017-08-11 |title=What to do when you realize classic books from your childhood are racist |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/realize-classic-books-childhood-racist |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us}} Lin hosts two podcasts, Book Friends Forever and Kids Ask Authors, started in 2019 and 2020 respectively.{{Cite web |title=Kids Ask Authors |url=https://www.kidsaskauthors.com/ |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=Kids Ask Authors |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Book Friends Forever |url=https://bookfriendsforever.com/ |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=Book Friends Forever |language=en-US}} She also sits on the advisory committee of We Need Diverse Books, a non-profit organization that promotes diversity in children's literature.{{Cite web |title=Grace Lin - Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures |url=https://pittsburghlectures.org/lectures/grace-lin/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |language=en-US}}

She married Robert Mercer, an architect and fellow RISD alum, in 2001.Maughan, Shannon. "Children's Artists Help Fund Cancer Research." Publishers Weekly, vol. 251, no. 39, 2004, pp. 30. When he was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare type of cancer, he and Lin moved to Montreal created the fundraiser Robert’s Snow: For Cancer’s Cure based on Lin’s children’s book, Robert’s Snow. Lin and Mercer invited children’s book illustrators to paint wooden snowflakes ornaments which were then auctioned off to raise money for cancer research. The fundraiser auction was held twice, raising over $100,000.{{Cite web |last=sibookdragon |date=2005-11-03 |title=Robert's Snow by Grace Lin and Robert's Snowflakes: Artists' Snowflakes for Cancer's Cure compiled by Grace Lin and Robert Mercer [in AsianWeek] |url=https://smithsonianapa.org/bookdragon/roberts-snow-by-grace-lin-and-roberts-snowflakes-artists-snowflakes-for-cancers-cure-compiled-by-grace-lin-and-robert-mercer/ |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=BookDragon |language=en-US}} Upon Mercer’s death in 2007, the fundraiser was discontinued.{{Cite web |date=2007-11-06 |title=Robert's Snow: for Cancer's Cure |url=https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2007/11/roberts-snow-for-cancers-cure/ |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=ALSC Blog |language=en-US}} She remarried in 2010 to Alexandre Ferron, with whom she has a daughter, Hazel, born in 2012.{{Cite web|last=Castillo|first=Andy|date=January 28, 2019|title=Dumplings for all: Author Grace Lin shares her Lunar New Year traditions|url=https://www.gazettenet.com/Chinese-New-Year-22998639|access-date=}} Lin resides in Florence, Massachusetts with her family.{{Cite web |last=SZALUSKY |date=2022-01-24 |title=Grace Lin wins 2022 Children's Literature Legacy Award |url=https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/01/grace-lin-wins-2022-children-s-literature-legacy-award |access-date=2022-02-23 |website=News and Press Center |language=en}}

Lin often writes about cultural and racial identity, as well as peace and relationships between friends and family.Thananopavarn, Susan. "Negotiating Asian American Childhood in the Twenty-First Century: Grace Lin's Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Dumpling Days." The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 38, no. 1, 2014a, pp. 106–122. Many of Lin’s works revolve around the experiences of Asian and Asian American characters, and she often draws directly from her own personal experiences, particularly in her Pacy series. By featuring Asian American protagonists in everyday situations and emphasizing diversity within the Asian American experience, argues Duke University Professor Susan Thananopavarn, Lin’s books confront and subvert both Western and global stereotypes surrounding the AAPI community. She also incorporates elements from traditional Chinese and Taiwanese fantasy folktales, which are most evident in her Where the Mountain Meets the Moon series.

Lin’s illustration style uses bright colors, graphic shapes, and intricate, layered patterns.{{Cite web |title=Grace Lin |url=https://www.lasell.edu/graduate-studies/academics/mfa-in-creative-writing/mfa-faculty/grace-lin.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.lasell.edu |language=en}} Lin illustrates all her work by hand, with a preference for gouache.Lin, Grace. "Gouache and I." Horn Book Magazine, vol. 90, no. 2, 2014, pp. 26–27. Lin developed her current illustration style during her senior year at RISD. Lin has noted that her inspiration stems from a combination of traditional Chinese folk art and the work of European artists such as Matisse and Van Gogh.

Lin has won multiple literary awards for her work, including a Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon in 2010, a Theodor Seuss Geisel award for Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same! in 2011, a National Book Award finalist for When the Sea Turned Silver in 2016, and a Caldecott Honor for A Big Mooncake for Little Star in 2019.{{Cite web |title=Where the Mountain Meets the Moon {{!}} Awards & Grants |url=https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/content/where-mountain-meets-moon |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.ala.org}}{{Cite web |title=A Big Mooncake for Little Star {{!}} Awards & Grants |url=https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/big-mooncake-little-star |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=www.ala.org}}{{Cite news |last=Dwyer |first=Colin |date=2016-10-06 |title=These Are The 2016 National Book Award Finalists |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/06/496760469/these-are-the-2016-national-book-award-finalists |access-date=2022-04-27}}{{Cite web |last=LSCHULTE |date=2019-12-20 |title=2019 Caldecott Medal and Honor Books |url=https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal/2019-caldecott-medal-and-honor-books |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) |language=en}} Many of her books have received starred reviews from outlets such as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Horn Book Magazine, and she has been nominated for numerous awards throughout her career.{{Cite web |title=Awards for Grace Lin - FictionDB |url=https://www.fictiondb.com/author/grace-lin~book-awards~63310.htm |access-date=2021-06-24 |website=www.fictiondb.com}} In 2016, she was recognized as one of ten Champions of Change for AAPI Art and Storytelling by the Obama administration, and her art was shown in the White House.{{Cite web |date=2016-05-24 |title=AAPI Heritage Month Recap: Champions for Art and Storytelling |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/05/24/aapi-heritage-month-recap-champions-art-and-storytelling |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=whitehouse.gov |language=en}} Furthermore, in recognition of her "significant and lasting contribution to literature for children," Lin won the 2022 Children's Literature Legacy Award. As the illustrator for I Am an American: The Wong Kim Ark Story, she won the Carter G. Woodson Book Award (Elementary Level) in 2022.{{cite web |title=Carter G. Woodson Book Award and Honor Winners |url=https://www.socialstudies.org/awards/woodson/winners |access-date=29 October 2024 |website=National Council for the Social Studies}} In 2024, she won the Picture Book/Early Reader Award at the 24th annual Massachusetts Book Awards.{{Cite web |date=2024-09-27 |title=Six Valley authors receive awards: Massachusetts Book Awards announces 2024 winners and honorees |url=https://www.gazettenet.com/Book-Award-Sept-27-57098241 |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=Daily Hampshire Gazette |language=en}}

• The Year of the Dog, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-316-06002-8}}
• The Year of the Rat, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-316-02928-5}}
• Dumpling Days, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-316-12589-5}}

• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, BOOK 1 Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-316-03863-8}}
• Starry River of the Sky, BOOK 2 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-316-12595-6}}
• When the Sea Turned to Silver, BOOK 3 Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2016. {{ISBN|978-0-316-12594-9}}

• Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-316-02453-2}}
• Ling & Ting Share a Birthday, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-316-18404-5}}
• Ling & Ting: Twice as Silly, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2014. {{ISBN|978-0-316-18402-1}}
• Ling & Ting: Together in All Weather, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-316-33549-2}}

• The Ugly Vegetables, Charlesbridge (Watertown, MA), 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-88106-336-3}}
• Okie-dokie, Artichokie!, Viking (New York, NY), 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-670-03623-3}}
• Olvina Flies, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-8050-6711-8}}
• Robert's Snow, Penguin (New York, NY), 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-670-05911-9}}
• Jingle Bells, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-316-79494-7}}
• Fortune Cookie Fortunes, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-440-42192-4}}
• Deck the Halls, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-316-79493-0}}
• The Twelve Days of Christmas, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-316-79496-1}}
• Merry Christmas! Let's All Sing!, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-316-79490-9}}
• Olvina Swims, Macmillan, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-8050-7661-5}}
• Our Seasons, Charlesbridge (Watertown, MA), 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-57091-360-0}}
• The Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale, Albert Whitman and Company, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-8075-6922-1}}
• Bringing in the New Year, Alfred A. Knopf, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-375-83745-6}}
• Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Alfred A. Knopf, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-375-86101-7}}
• A Big Mooncake for Little Star, Little, Brown, 2018, {{ISBN|978-0-316-40448-8}}
• Mulan: Before the Sword, Disney Press, 2020, {{ISBN|978-1-368-02033-6}}

• Roseanne Thong, Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-8118-2676-1}}
• Paul Yee, The Jade Necklace, Crocodile Books (New York, NY), 2001. {{ISBN|978-1-896580-07-4}}
• Dim Sum for Everyone!, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-375-91082-1}}
• Roseanne Thong, Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8118-6481-7}}
• Dana Meachen Rau, My Favorite Foods, Compass Point Books (Minneapolis, MN), 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-7565-0076-4}}
• Frances Park and Ginger Park, Where on Earth Is My Bagel?, Lee & Low (New York, NY), 2001. {{ISBN|978-1-58430-033-5}}
• Cari Meister, A New Roof, Children's Press (New York, NY), 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-516-22369-8}}
• Kite Flying, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-375-81520-1}}
• C.C. Cameron, One for Me, One for You: Little Ideas for Caring for Yourself and the World, Roaring Brook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-250-27557-8}}
• Kathy Tucker, The Seven Chinese Sisters, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-8075-7310-5}}
• Roseanne Thong, One is a Drummer: A Book of Numbers, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8118-3772-9}}
• Eleanor Roosevelt and Michelle Markel, When You Grow Up to Vote: How Our Government Works for You, Roaring Brook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2018. {{ISBN|978-1-62672-879-0}}
• Martha Brockenbrough, I Am an American: The Wong Kim Ark Story, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2021. {{ISBN|9780316426923}}.{{Cite book |url=https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martha-brockenbrough/i-am-an-american/9780316426923/?lens=little-brown-books-for-young-readers |title=I Am an American |date=2021-03-09 |isbn=978-0-316-42692-3 |language=en-US |last1=Brockenbrough |first1=Martha |last2=Lin |first2=Grace |publisher=Little, Brown }}

{{reflist}}

• {{official website |www.gracelin.com/ }}
• [http://asolitarygrace.blogspot.com/ Old Blog]
• [http://www.gracelinblog.com/ Blog]
• {{ISFDB name|140962}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110211103707/http://www.papertigers.org/interviews/archived_interviews/glin.html "Interview with author/illustrator Grace Lin"], Paper Tigers, Aline Pereira
• [http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/43773-q--a-with-grace-lin.html "Q & A with Grace Lin"], Publishers Weekly, Julie Yates Walton, July 8, 2010
• {{LCAuth|n98050867|Grace Lin|39|}}
• [http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/lin A video interview with Grace Lin]
• [https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/947 Grace Lin Papers at University of Connecticut]

{{Portal |Children's literature}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Grace}}

Category:American children's writers

Category:American writers of Taiwanese descent

Category:Living people

Category:Rhode Island School of Design alumni

Category:American writers of Chinese descent

Category:American women writers of Chinese descent

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:1974 births

Category:20th-century American writers

Category:American women children's writers

Category:American women novelists

Category:Writers who illustrated their own writing

Category:Caldecott Honor winners

Category:Newbery Honor winners

Category:Children's Literature Legacy Award winners

Category:Carter G. Woodson Book Award winners

Category:American women novelists of Asian descent

Category:American novelists of Asian descent