UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — “The task of a comic book writer is, in part, to think of the characters in terms of what they say — words that cut and words that soothe. Most of the comics that I’ve worked on pretty solidly reflect my love of talking and not talking, because I love how people can say so much by what they avoid as by what they embrace in what they say.”
– Author Mariko Tamaki, speaking before receiving the 2015 Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year on Thursday (Oct. 22) in Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library. Tamaki received the award also on behalf of her collaborator and cousin, artist Jillian Tamaki, for their coming-of-age graphic novel, “This One Summer,” which also won a Caldecott Honor for exceptional picture book art and a Printz Honor for outstanding young adult literature earlier this year.
The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, sponsored by the University Libraries and administered by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, has been presented annually since 2011 to the best graphic novel, fiction or nonfiction, published in the previous calendar year by a living U.S. or Canadian citizen or resident.
The exhibit "The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize: the First Five Years" showcases the work of the prize's initial honorees through Jan. 20, 2016, in Sidewater Commons, Pattee Library.