CA – Sumo Signing

Thien Pham, writer and artist of Sumo, as well as the artist of the much loved “Level Up” appears at Fantastic Comics on Saturday, January 26th at 2:00 pm. He will sign copies of his book and speak about his process of creating comic books. If you are a fan of his, or just interested in comics in general, this is a wonderful to get a glimpse of how a published creator goes about his process.

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Fantastic Comics
2026 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 848-2988

CA – Sumo Signing

Author/illustrator Thien Pham signs at Trickster on Saturday January 12, 2013 at 5:00 pm!

Tr!ckster
2631 Ashby Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705

CA – Sumo Signing

Thien Pham signs at Book Passage on Friday January 25th at 6:00 pm.

Scott is a washed-up football player who never made it, and whose girlfriend abandoned him along with his dreams of playing pro football. But things have a way of working out, in this sweet, poetic tale–and a new chapter in Scott’s life begins as the old one ends. Offered a position in a Japanese sumo training “stable,” Scott abandons his old life, his old name, and even his old hair color, and becomes an aspiring sumo wrestler. And in so doing, he begins to find some kind of center in himself…a center that had seemed lost for good.

Thien Pham, the acclaimed illustrator of Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up, returns as the writer and artist of a unique new graphic novel. Highly poetic and structured to echo the slow build and sudden clash of a sumo match, Pham’s Sumo is an unusual and beautiful book. It’s nearly a contradiction in terms: a delicate, deft, tender tale about… sumo wrestling.

Thien Pham is a comic book and visual artist, based in the Bay Area. He is also a high school teacher. Pham illustrated Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up, a YALSA Great Graphic Novel and New York Times Notable Children’s Book. Sumo is his first solo work.

Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA 94925

SF – Sumo Signing

Press Release:

The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes cartoonist Thien Pham on Saturday, January 19, 2013 from 1:00-3:00pm for a discussion and booksigning of his latest release, SUMO, published by First Second Books.  This event is free and open to the public.   About the artist:

Thien Pham is a comic book and visual artist, based in the Bay Area. He is also a high school teacher. Pham illustrated Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up, a YALSA Great Graphic Novel and New York Times Notable Children’s Book. Sumo is his first solo work.   About the book:   Scott  is a washed-up football player who never made it, and whose girlfriend abandoned him along with his dreams of playing pro football. But things have a way of working out, in this sweet, poetic tale–and a new chapter in Scott’s life begins as the old one ends. Offered a position in a Japanese sumo training “stable,” Scott abandons his old life, his old name, and even his old hair color, and becomes an aspiring sumo wrestler. And in so doing, he begins to find some kind of center in himself…a center that had seemed lost for good.

Thien Pham, the acclaimed illustrator of Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up, returns as the writer and artist of a unique new graphic novel.  Highly poetic and structured to echo the slow build and sudden clash of a sumo match, Pham’s Sumo is an unusual and beautiful book. It’s nearly a contradiction in terms: a delicate, deft, tender tale about…sumo wrestling.

Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission  Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

NYC – Marvels & Monsters/Alt.Comics Opening Reception

 

Press Release: 

The Museum of Chinese in America is pleased to announce the launch of two new exhibitions exploring the relationship between Asian Americans and comic books – Marvels and Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 and Alt.Comics: Asian American Artists Reinvent the Comic Book, on view from September 27, 2012 through February 24, 2013. The opening reception will be on Thursday September 27, 2012 from 6:00 – 8:00pm.

Recently donated to the NYU Fales Library & Special Collection, Marvels and Monsters is drawn from what is widely considered the world’s largest archive of comic books featuring images of Asian and Americans, painstakingly collected over four turbulent decades (1940s to 1980s) by science fiction author and cultural studies scholar William F. Wu. The compilation offers a unique glimpse into America’s evolving racial and cultural sensibilities, as depicted by wartime images of racist propaganda and xenophobic anxiety over Chinese immigration to lasting archetypes which continue to define America’s perception of Asians today.

According to curator Jeff Yang, “All of the key elements that have shaped who we are as a people have occurred during this time: Pearl Harbor, Japanese internment camps, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, ethnic enclaves, the Asian American rights movement, and the economic rise of Japan and China. What Wu has done is to collect images shaped by political forces to tell a narrative of how America views Asians.”

Marvels and Monsters is a selection of the most indelible images from Wu’s collection, placed within a historical context and juxtaposed with insights from contemporary Asian American writers and artists Ken Chen, Larry Hama, David Henry Hwang, Vijay Prashad, and Gene Luen Yang. The exhibition also incorporates elements meant to encourage direct engagement with the archetypes, such as life-size cutouts allowing visitors to put themselves “inside the image” and an installation called “Shades of Yellow” which matches the shades used for Asian skin tones in the comics with their garish Pantone TM color equivalents.

Alt.Comics extends the conversation of Marvels & Monsters into the present, showcasing the efforts of Asian American artists to establish a new and authentic identity by subverting stereotypes and juxtaposing disparate images. The exhibition focuses on alternative and independent comic spaces, particularly in the hubs of San Francisco and New York, which produced many of the most prominent artists in the independent scene. The exhibition features work by: Larry Hama, Alex Joon Kim, Derek Kirk Kim, Jerry Ma, Christine Norrie, Thien Pham, Lark Pien, Jason Shiga, GB Tran, and Gene Luen Yang.

This exhibition includes excerpts from Secret Identities Volume 2: Shattered, a follow-up to the groundbreaking compilation using the comic format “to upend, re-envision, re-imagine – to shatter – the distorted and negative images that have shadowed Asian Americans since the earliest days of our arrival in this country.” The Secret Identities component includes the work of: Jeremy Arambulo, Jef Castro, Louie Chin, Johann Choi, Ming Doyle, Robin Ha, Kripa Joshi, Eric Kim, Alice Meichi Li, Jerry Ma, Jamie Noguchi, Saumin Patel, Tak Toyoshima, GB Tran, Glenn Urieta, and DaFu Yu.

Marvels & Monsters is curated by Jeff Yang and organized by the A/P/A Institute at NYU. It was originally exhibited at NYU Fales Library, and was recently shown at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. Alt.Comics is curated by Jeff Yang for the Museum of Chinese in America.

These exhibitions are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts (Museums Program), celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties, and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional support is provided by Museum members.
About William F. Wu, Collector

Nominated five times for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, William F. Wu has published over a dozen novels, including the best-selling 1996 STAR WARS: Tales from Jabba’s Palace and Avon’s young adult SF series Isaac Asimov’s Robots in Time. His most acclaimed book, Hong on the Range, was chosen for the Wilson Library Bulletin’s list of science fiction “Books Too Good To Miss,” a selection for the American Library Association list of Best Books for Young People, the New York Public Library’s Recommended Books for the Teen Age, and was also a Young Adult Editor’s Choice by Booklist. A prolific short story writer, Wu’s works have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies; his short story “Wong’s Lost and Found Emporium” was a multiple award nominee that was adapted into an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone. He has a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation, published in book form as The Yellow Peril: Chinese Americans in American Fiction, 1850-1940 (Archon Books, 1982).

About Jeff Yang, Curator

Jeff Yang began reading and collecting comics at the age of eight, and hasn’t allowed distractions like adulthood, marriage and fatherhood to deter him since. He has written the column “Asian Pop” for the San Francisco Chronicle for the past six years, and penned a series of acclaimed and bestselling books — Eastern Standard Time; I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action (the action icon’s official autobiography); Once Upon a Time in China; and, most recently, the seminal graphic novel collection Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. He began his career as founding editor and publisher of the pioneering Asian American periodical A. Magazine and as a cultural critic for New York’s alternative weekly the Village Voice. He can frequently be heard as a contributor on NPR’s Tell Me More, PRI’s The Takeaway, and other public radio programs. He, his wife Heather and his sons Hudson and Skyler live in Brooklyn, New York. He writes a column for the Wall Street Journal online called Tao Jones.

About Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)

MOCA’s mission is to celebrate the living history of the Chinese experience in America, to inspire our diverse communities to contribute to America’s evolving cultural narrative and civil society, and to empower and bridge our communities across generations, ethnicities and geography through our dynamic stories.

MOCA is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution that presents the living history, heritage, culture and diverse experiences of Chinese Americans through exhibitions, educational services and public programs. It began in 1980 as the community-based New York Chinatown History Project founded by community and student activists led by historian John Kuo Wei Tchen and Charles Lai. It has since grown to encompass the stories and journeys of the many communities of Chinese America, both in the New York Metro area and across the U.S., including new immigrants and established multi-generation families.

Since late 2009, when MOCA moved into its new space, designed by Maya Lin and located at the crossroads of Soho and Chinatown, its exhibitions, programs and audiences have grown in size and scope. This was made possible by a unique public/private partnership between collaborative government efforts to rebuild Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11 and MOCA’s growing community of donors led by its Board of Trustees. Currently, MOCA’s family consists of its many visitors, members, scholars, artists, activists, and families with young children as well as a growing base of young professionals, business leaders and entrepreneurs. For more info and upcoming events, please visit www.mocanyc.org.

The Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre Street New York, NY 10013
(212) 619-4785

CA – All-Ages Comics Signing

Celebrated cartoonists Lark Pien, Jason Shiga, Thien Pham and Gene Luen Yang speak on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 6:30pm.

Guests’ work includes: American Born Chinese, Level Up, Empire State, and Mr. Elephanter.

This is an all-ages program. A book sale and signing follows the program.

Piedmont Branch Library
160 41st Street, Oakland, CA 94611

CA – Level Up Signing

Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham appear at Escapist Comic Bookstore on Saturday September 10, 2011 at 2pm!

Yang posts on his blog:

Thien Pham and I are going to present all the different ways to get your comic book out into the world: mini-comics, webcomics, self-publishing, working with a traditional comics publisher, working with a graphic novel imprint.  There will probably be a lot of Chinese vs. Vietnamese jokes and general verbal abuse along the way.  We’ll also do readings from some of our recent and upcoming books.  Come spend an afternoon with us at Escapist Comics in Berkeley, California!

RSVP on Facebook!

Escapist Comics
3090 Claremont Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94705
510-65COMIC

SF – Level Up Workshop

Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham teach a cartooning workshop on Saturday, June 25, 2011 from 1pm to 3pm as they celebrate the release of Level Up, their new graphic novel published by First Second.  Yang and Pham will discuss their collaborative process, sign books, and draw comics with visitors.  This event is free with paid admission to the Cartoon Art Museum. 

Cartoon Art Museum 
655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 227-8666

CA – Level Up Signing

GENE YANG & THIEN PHAM sign at Secret Headquarters on Friday, June 17th from 7pm – 9pm!

Join us in celebrating the release of “American Born Chinese” writer Gene Yang and artist Thien Pham’s new graphic novel, “Level Up”. Stop by this Friday to have a drink and get your book signed!

A rundown of the new book:

“Smackdown! Video Games vs. Medical School!

Which will win the battle for our hero’s attention in Gene Luen Yang’s new graphic novel?

Dennis Ouyang lives in the shadow of his parents’ high expectations. They want him to go to med school and become a doctor. Dennis just wants to play video games—and he might actually be good enough to do it professionally. But four adorable, bossy, and occasionally terrifying angels arrive just in time to lead Dennis back onto the straight and narrow: the path to gastroenterology. It’s all part of the plan, they tell him. But is it?

This powerful piece of magical realism brings into sharp relief the conflict many teens face between pursuing their dreams and living their parents’. Partnered with the deceptively simple, cute art of newcomer Thien Pham, Gene Yang has returned to the subject he revolutionized with American Born Chinese. Whimsical and serious by turns, Level Up is a new look at the tale that Yang has made his own: coming of age as an Asian American.”

Secret Headquarters
3817 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

CA – Level Up Signing

Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham sign Level Up on Tuesday June 07, 2011 at 7:00 PM.

Barnes & Noble – Bay Street-Emeryville
5604 Bay Street, Emeryville, CA 94608