Get Hooked on MESSY ROOTS by Laura Gao
Channel: San Francisco Public Library
Date: 2022-11-09

After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrated to Texas, where her hometown is as foreign as Mars—at least until 2020, when COVID-19 made Wuhan a household name. In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as a girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.

Check out Messy Roots at the San Francisco Public Library (https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C5089311) or purchase a copy from your favorite local bookstore: https://bookshop.org/p/books/messy-roots-a-graphic-memoir-of-a-wuhanese-american-laura-gao/15915845?ean=9780063067769

Laura Gao is a queer artist, author, bread lover, and continental drifter. Originally from Wuhan, China, Gao immigrated to Texas where she first began doodling on Pokemon cards and her art career has since blossomed to be featured on NPR, the New York Times, the Museum of Chinese in American, and most notably, their parents’ fridge. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Gao worked as a Product Manager in San Francisco until April 2020, when in response to anti-Asian racism and rampant misinformation about their hometown, they published a webcomic, "The Wuhan I Know", on Twitter where it went viral. The comic inspired their bestselling debut graphic memoir, Messy Roots, which was published in March 2022.
Connect with Laura Gao on Twitter and Instagram: @heylauragao