The Author: Eddie Ahn
The Book: Advocate: A Graphic Memoir of Family, Community, and the Fight for Environmental Justice (Ten Speed Graphic, 2024)
The Elevator Pitch: My graphic memoir Advocate weaves the story of my personal life and family history with the fight for environmental justice and community.
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The Rumpus: Where did the idea of your book come from?
Eddie Ahn: Advocate came from my fifteen years of work experience as a nonprofit worker and environmental justice lawyer, as well as my evolution as a self-taught cartoonist. In addition to exploring stories of my family and immigration history across the United States, the book spans my time teaching arts and public speaking classes for elementary school students to serving frontline communities during the pandemic and wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Rumpus: How long did it take to write the book?
Ahn: After picking up the basics of graphic storytelling and illustration by studying a wide range of comics, I spent many years fine-tuning the color palette and the narrative style of Advocate. The earliest pages for this book were created in 2016, and I began publishing short comic stories on Instagram in 2020.
Rumpus: Is this the first book you’ve written? If not, what made it the first to be published?
Ahn: I have done self-published zine and comics work in the past, which were fictional stories ranging from crime noir to science fiction—for much of my early cartooning work, I preferred using fiction as a way to tell stories that were personal but not directly autobiographical. After posting some autobiographical short comic stories on Instagram in 2020, the online audience for the comics grew rapidly. After a year, an editor reached out and expressed interest in the material. I didn’t have a literary agent at the time, so it was another long process to figure out the route to a book deal and the vision of a longer graphic novel with linear storytelling across seven chapters.
Rumpus: In submitting the book, how many no’s did you get before your yes?
Ahn: Because I was found through social media, I spent a significant amount of time figuring out the process rather than sending query letters. I’m very grateful for the dedication of my online audience, who have raised the visibility of my work so that it could eventually get published.
Rumpus: Which authors/writers buoyed you along the way? How?
Ahn: I remain inspired by the craft of many different writers and cartoonists—for instance, Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes remains an inspiration for its understanding of the craft and ability to revise the traditions of comic strip storytelling. The works of Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese, Dragon Hoops, among others) have also inspired me to think through the scope and creative ambition of my own memoir as well. Because comics is a visual medium, I’m also often inspired by movies, TV, and cinematography—for instance, I appreciate the long takes and careful framing of Alfonso Cuarón’s movies (Roma, Gravity, Children of Men, etc . . .).
Rumpus: How did your book change over the course of working on it?
Ahn: Originally conceived as ten short stories, the book evolved into a graphic novel of seven chapters. With editorial guidance, I adopted a more linear form of storytelling that linked the larger arc of my life over 15 years. Different color palettes allowed me to retain the overarching linear structure while interspersing each chapter with “flashbacks” or “flash forwards” from my life. The themes in the book subsequently shaped the story’s chronology and created a different style of graphic storytelling, connecting my family’s history with my community work and service.
Rumpus: Before your first book, where has your work been published?
Ahn: Besides self-publishing, I have had my comic strip work published by Hyphen Magazine, a nonprofit magazine dedicated to elevating the voices of Asian Americans.
Rumpus: What is the best advice someone gave you about publishing?
Ahn: Patience is essential to the publishing process—there are a lot of opinions and edits to juggle at any point of time, and I’ve always believed editorial input and collaboration make for a better story. Due to the hand-drawn nature of my comics, editing Advocate was an intricate process, and my editor, Vedika Khanna, understood the labor behind this work well to adapt accordingly.
Rumpus: Who’s the reader you’re writing to—or tell us about your target audience and how you cultivated or found it?
Ahn: My book is for anyone generally interested in supporting a broader community beyond themselves. The book also works to reconcile family history and identity with some of the more difficult aspects of fighting for environmental justice, whether grappling with anti-Asian hate or advocating for more resources in frontline communities. The book could also be a useful account for anyone wanting to pursue nonprofit work and learn about its rewards as well as challenges.
Rumpus: What is one completely unexpected thing that surprised you about the process of getting your book published?
Ahn: The publishing process takes a long time, and shortcuts are hard to find even with being “discovered” on social media. Ultimately, I secured representation with my agent, Chad Luibl of Janklow & Nesbit, who was a champion of the book and myself during this multi-year process. Despite not going through the usual process of initially finding an agent and pitching my book, I would strongly recommend retaining representation before navigating today’s publishing industry.
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Author photograph courtesy of Eddie Ahn
