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Author: Laura Gao

Saturday, 12/10/2022
2:00 - 3:30
James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center - 3rd Fl
Main Library

100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
United States

415-557-4400

Laura Gao, San Francisco author and illustrator, shares her debut graphic memoir, Messy Roots, about her coming of age as a queer, Chinese American immigrant. An audience Q&A, special live reading, and book signing will follow. 

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 with HarperCollins and has since garnered three starred reviews, been featured in NPR and the New York Times, and is shortlisted for the Harvey Awards, Indies Next List, Indies Introduce List, and the Texas Maverick List. Besides drawing and fending off early-onset back pain, Gao enjoys biking through Ghibli-esque worlds and binging SNL.

Connect 

Laura Gao – Twitter 

Laura Gao – Instagram  

AANHPI Interest

Weaving Stories: Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Interest
Connect with AANHPI heritage with programs and workshops, book recommendations and more.

Weaving Stories is the Library's celebration of the many diverse histories and cultures from Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities.

LGBTQIA+ Interest

Gather, share knowledge and celebrate our unique identities at the queerest library ever. 

For more resources, the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center is the gateway to the Library’s broader collections documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual history and culture, with a special emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area.

Read & Write

Discover new titles, share inspiring works and participate in challenges and contests. 

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

For questions about the program or help registering, contact sfplcpp@sfpl.org. All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL or language interpretation), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.