Ngozi Ukazu facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ngozi Ukazu |
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Ukazu at the 2024 Texas Book Festival.
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| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer |
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Notable works
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Check, Please! |
| Awards | "Digital Book of the Year" Harvey Award (2019) "Outstanding Comic" Ignatz Award (2019) |
| http://www.ngoziu.com | |
Ngozi Ukazu is an American artist who creates comics and graphic novels. She is famous for her webcomic called Check, Please!, which she started in 2013. This comic later became a very popular graphic novel that even made it onto The New York Times bestseller list.
Contents
Growing Up: Ngozi Ukazu's Early Life
Ngozi Ukazu grew up in Houston, Texas. When she was in high school at Bellaire High, she worked on the school newspaper, The Three Penny Press. She was the comics editor there. Her parents are from Nigeria.
Ukazu studied computer science at Yale University, earning her degree in 2013. She then went on to get a master's degree in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015. Sequential Art is the art of telling stories using pictures, like in comics.
Ngozi Ukazu's Career in Comics
Ukazu launched Check, Please! as a webcomic in 2013. Before that, she had written a story idea about a character named Eric "Bitty" Bittle. He was a college freshman and a great figure skater who joined a hockey team.
Check, Please! Becomes a Book
In 2015, Ukazu started a Kickstarter campaign. This is a way for people to raise money from many small donations to fund a project. She wanted to print the first book of her comic. Her campaign was very successful. It became the highest-funded comics project in Kickstarter's history at that time.
The first part of the story, Check, Please!: #Hockey, was published in 2018 by First Second Books. The next book, Check, Please!: Sticks & Scones, became a New York Times bestseller in May 2020.
Other Graphic Novels by Ukazu
In 2024, Ngozi Ukazu created a graphic novel called Barda for DC Comics. She both wrote the story and drew the pictures for this book.
Her newest graphic novel, titled Flip, is planned to be published in the fall of 2025.
Awards and Honors for Ngozi Ukazu
Ngozi Ukazu has received many awards and honors for her work. Here are some of them:
- 2019 Ignatz Award - Winner, Outstanding Comic
- 2019 Harvey Award - Winner, Digital Book of the Year
- 2019 YALSA - Finalist | William C. Morris Award
- 2018 The Boston Globe - Best YA of 2018 (YA stands for Young Adult)
- 2018 Kirkus Reviews - Best Young Adult Books of 2018 That Explore Family and Self
- 2018 New York Public Library’s Best Books - Top Ten Books For Teens
- 2018 Best of Austin - Arts & Entertainment Critics Pick
- 2018 Harvey Awards - Nominee, Digital Book of the Year
- 2017 National Cartoonists Society - Winner, Best Online Comic: Long Form
- 2017 NPR - 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels
