ABOUT THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
A collaborative graphic novel created by Sansei artist Lillian Michiko Blakey and Yonsei animation filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns, this intergenerational story is the first time a graphic novel has ever been created to address both themes of Japanese Canadian history and identity.
12-year-old Emma learns about her Japanese roots through the true-life story of her great-great grandmother Maki, a Japanese picture bride, who journeyed to Canada at the turn of the 20th century. Through Maki’s story of extreme perseverance and sacrifice, having been interned and then deported to Japan after WWII, Emma discovers a deeper connection to her Japanese Canadian identity, on being Yukiko.
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Intended audience: Grades: 4 To 7 / Ages: 9 to 12
*Also suitable for Middle School and High School curriculums
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR / ILLUSTRATORS
JEFF CHIBA STEARNS, Author & Illustrator
Jeff Chiba Stearns is an Emmy® nominated and Webby award winning animation and documentary filmmaker, as well as an acclaimed author and illustrator. After graduating from the Emily Carr University with a degree in Film Animation, he founded Vancouver-based boutique animation studio and publishing company Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. in 2001. Jeff’s short and feature length films, including “What Are You Anyways?” (2005), Yellow Sticky Notes (2007), One Big Hapa Family (2010), Ode to a Post-it Note (2010), Yellow Sticky Notes | Canadian Anijam (2013) and Mixed Match (2016), have broadcast around the world, screened in hundreds of international film festivals and garnered dozens of awards.
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Being Yonsei, fourth generation Japanese Canadian, and having mixed Japanese and European roots, Jeff’s work often deals with themes of multiethnic identity. He coined the term Hapanimation to describe his style of blending anime and manga with a North American cartoon aesthetic. He has lectured and presented his films at over one hundred universities including Harvard, Cornell and Yale. In 2018, he wrote and illustrated his first picture book Mixed Critters, an ABC book inspired by his own children’s mixed Japanese backgrounds. Nori and His Delicious Dreams (2020), Jeff’s second children’s book, features a Japanese Canadian boy named Nori who dreams of sleeping in foods from around the world. On Being Yukiko is Jeff’s first graphic novel.
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Follow Jeff’s work at @meditatingbunny & www.meditatingbunny.com
LILLIAN MICHIKO BLAKEY, Author & Illustrator
Lillian Michiko Blakey is a third generation Japanese Canadian, who was born in Coaldale, Alberta in 1945, where her family was forcibly relocated by the Canadian government during WWII to do hard labour in the sugar beet fields for ten years.
Her family came to Toronto, Ontario in 1952. She is a Fine Arts graduate from the University of Toronto. She was formerly a Visual Art teacher and a consultant for Equity in the Curriculum with the North York Board of Education. She served on the Board of Directors at the John B. Aird Gallery in Toronto and is a member and former president of the Ontario Society of Artists, Canada’s longest continuing art society since 1872.
Lillian has explored her family’s story through her art for over twenty years and has shared the journey in many exhibitions at both mainstream galleries and venues for Japanese Canadian audiences. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Government of Ontario Art Collection and in the Nikkei National Museum. In 2019, her work, along with the work of seven other Japanese Canadian artists, was included in the Royal Ontario Museum’s exhibition “Being Japanese Canadian: reflections on a broken world” in the Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canadian History. On Being Yukiko is Lillian’s first graphic novel.
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Discover more of Lillian’s work at www.blakeyart.ca
