After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas, where her hometown is as foreign as MarsтАФat least until 2020, when COVID-19 makes Wuhan a household name.
In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as the girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.
Insightful, original, and hilarious, toggling seamlessly between past and present, China and America, GaoтАЩs debut is a tour de force of graphic storytelling.
Laura Gao is a comic artist and bread lover currently living in San Francisco. Her debut graphic novel, Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American, received several starred reviews. LauraтАЩs art career began by doodling on Pok├йmon cards and has since blossomed to be featured on NPR, HuffPost, and, most notably, her parentsтАЩ fridge. She is a proud queer Asian American immigrant and strives to inspire others to live unapologetically loud. LauraтАЩs pronouns are she/they. Say hello and send her bakery recommendations at lauragao.com.