A first autobiography

Allen Say writes and illustrates evocative picture books about family, culture, creative expression, and dreams. Many of his stories movingly express nuanced details about the immigrant experience, something Say and his family experienced first-hand. Say won the Caldecott Medal for Grandfather’s Journey, the story of his father’s own journey from Japan to the U.S. and back again. In this interview, Say vividly remembers his early apprenticeship in Tokyo with post-war cartoon master Noro Shinpei, describes a first career as a commercial photographer, and recounts how he finally returned to his love of storytelling through words and pictures.