Names and Faces

A graphic memoir-in-essays examining the in-betweenness of being mixed-race and the cultural confrontations inherent to forging one’s identity

Who are you? What are you? And how does it feel to be you? Leise Hook was asked these intrusive questions so many times growing up that they haunted her like ghosts. Born to a Chinese mother and white American father, and growing up in Michigan, Tokyo, and Virginia, Leise Hook was never sure where she fit in. More white passing than her Chinese friends and family, but with the Mandarin skills of a native speaker, she was constantly exceeding some expectations while failing to meet others. From moving to Beijing, to dying her hair blonde, to exploring self portraiture, Hook struggles to figure out who she is and where she belongs.

In the vein of Cathy Park Hong and Gene Luen Yang, Hook’s graphic memoir-in-essays rendered via her signature, award-winning style, explores what it means to come of age as a mixed-race woman, forging a singular identity in a world intent on putting her into ill-fitting boxes.

Author Biography

Leise Hook is a cartoonist and illustrator who grew up in college towns in Michigan and Virginia, and previously worked in art museums in New York City and Beijing. Her work has appeared in The Believer, The New Yorker, Catapult, and Spotlight PA and has been short-listed for a National Magazine Award and the Cartoonist Studio Prize. She is a graduate of the MFA program at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. She currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with her husband and tabby cat.