Thien Pham
Graphic novelist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thien Pham is a cartoonist, illustrator, and educator based in Oakland, CA.[1] Pham is best known for his graphic memoir Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam (2023). Pham currently teaches art in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Bishop O’Dowd High School and has taught there since 2002.[2][3]
Born in Vietnam, Pham and his family fled to a refugee camp in Thailand in 1979 and immigrated to the United States in 1984.[4] Pham lived with his family in San Jose, CA, and he made minicomics in the 2000s.[5][6][7]
In 2011, Pham illustrated Level Up, a graphic novel written by Gene Luen Yang. Level Up was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2012.[8] Pham published the graphic novel Sumo in 2012 and the graphic memoir Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam in 2023. In 2024, Family Style was a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction and won the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Memoir.[9]
Pham collaborates with KQED food editor Luke Tsai on "The Midnight Diners," an illustrated restaurant review column. Tsai and Pham's "The Midnight Diners" was nominated for a James Beard Media Award in 2025.[10][11]
Published Works
- Level Up (2011) with Gene Luen Yang: A graphic novel about video games, family, and a medical student.[12][13]
- Sumo (2012): A graphic novel about a former football player who moves to Japan and trains to become a sumo wrestler.[14][15]
- Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam (2023): A graphic memoir about Pham's experience immigrating to the United States at a young age. Each chapter is named after a significant food in Pham's life.[16][17][18][19][20]