Pop Culture Classroom’s 2021 Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards

Written by Joel T. Lewis

​Graphic Literature has not always garnered the respect of literary circles, often termed juvenile, sophomoric, or simplistic. But any of us who have picked up a copy of Persepolis, Maus, or Watchmen know the compelling power of the medium of graphic novels and thanks to the important work of organizations like Pop Culture Classroom these works are being recognized for their critical legitimacy. This year saw a myriad of important new works of Graphic Literature and the time has come for Pop Culture Classroom to announce the 2021 Excellence in Graphic Literature (EGL) Awards!
 
Selected by advisory boards and juries made up of diverse, experienced, and informed members of publishing, librarian, and educational professions, the EGL Awards celebrate the best in fictional and nonfictional graphic novels and comics. These awards help educators and librarians identify high quality graphic literature in order to bring them into diverse educational settings. They also help publishers of graphic novels increase their sales and growth potential specifically with libraries and schools. The EGL Awards also help parents, Pop Culture fans, and other discerning readers discover new compelling, expertly crafted stories in the exciting medium of Graphic Literature. 
 
The 2021 ELG Awards Book of the Year is Displacement, a poignant exploration of Japanese internment camps in San Francisco through the personal lens of an unwitting time traveler who experiences the injustice of internment alongside her own grandmother. Written and illustrated by Kiku Hughes (Macmillan Publishers), Displacement is a powerful addition to the ELG Awards pantheon of Book of the Year winners. 
 
The ELG Mosaic Award honors works of Graphic Literature that showcase diverse voices and highlight stories about and from different ethnicities, nationalities, belief systems, genders, and sexual orientations. This year’s Mosaic Award winner is The Magic Fish, written and illustrated by Trung Le Nguyen (RH Graphic – Random House Children’s Books Imprint). The Magic Fish is an exploration through fairy tales of sexual and racial identity which follows Tiến, a Vietnamese boy struggling to come out to his immigrant parents. 
 
The ELG Awards also recognized the following works in Children’s, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction categories for 2021:
 
Best in Children’s Fiction - Bear, Written by Ben Queen and Illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton (Boom! Studios)
 
Best in Children’s Non-Fiction - Black Heroes of the Wild West, Written and Illustrated by James Otis Smith (TOON Books)
 
Best in Middle Grade Fiction - Snapdragon, Written and Illustrated by Kat Leyh (Macmillan Publishers)
 
Best in Middle Grade Non-Fiction - Noisemakers: 25 Women Who Raised Their Voices & Changed the World, Edited by Erin Bried (Knopf - Random House Children’s Books)
 
Best in Young Adult Fiction - Displacement, Written and Illustrated by Kiku Hughes (Macmillan Publishers)
 
Best in Young Adult Non-Fiction - The Mars Challenge, Written by Alison Wilgus and Illustrated by Wyeth Yates (Macmillan Publishers)
 
Best in Adult Fiction - Invisible Differences, Written by Julie Dachez and Illustrated by Mme. Caroline (Oni Press)
 
Best in Adult Non-Fiction (Co-Winners) - Phollan Devi: Rebel Queen, Written and Illustrated by Claire Fauvel (NBM Graphic Novels AND Year of the Rabbit, Written and Illustrated by Tian Veasna (Drawn and Quarterly)
 
Here at Nerds That Geek we seek to celebrate stories in all their varied and wonderful forms, and we are so excited to see the diverse, heartfelt, and earnest art being created in Graphic Literature today. It’s important that awards like these exist. It’s important that Pop Culture Classroom and organizations like it spotlight Graphic Literature with awards and recognition because it is a genre that is very much on the rise, and it produces truly moving works of art. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for this year’s Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards, we are so excited to see what comes next for you all!

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