Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same

Before Grace Lin was an award-winning and NY Times bestselling author/illustrator of picturebooks, early readers and middle grade novels. She was the only Asian girl (except for her sisters) going to her elementary school in Upstate NY. That experience, good and bad, has influenced her books—including her Newbery Honor Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, her Geisel Honor Ling & Ting, her National Book Finalist When the Sea Turned to Silver and her Caldecott Honor A Big Mooncake for Little Star. But, it also causes Grace to persevere for diversity as an occasional New England Public Radio commentator and when she gave her TEDx talk “The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf,” as well as her PBS New Hour video essay “What to do when you realize classic books from your childhood are racist?.”  In 2016, Grace’s art was displayed at the White House and Grace, herself, was recognized by President Obama’s office as a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling. In 2022, Grace was awarded the Children’s Literature Legacy Award from the American Library Association. In 2025, Grace received an honorary doctorate degree from her alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design and exhibited a career retrospective of her work “The Art of Grace Lin: Meeting a Friend in an Unexpected Place” at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Grace is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with her husband, daughter and a fluctuating amount of chickens.