Pulitzer-Winning Graphic Novel 'Feeding Ghosts' Receives Minimal Attention

The graphic novel Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls, published by MCD in 2024, has achieved a remarkable milestone by winning the Pulitzer Prize, announced on May 5. This prestigious award, considered the pinnacle of recognition in journalism, literature, and music in the United States and second only to the Nobel Prize internationally, marks a significant moment in the world of comics. Remarkably, Feeding Ghosts is only the second graphic novel to win a Pulitzer, following Art Spiegelman’s Maus in 1992, which received a Special Award. In a groundbreaking move, Hulls' work won in the regular category of Memoir or Autobiography, competing against the finest English prose globally. This achievement is even more impressive as it is Hulls' debut graphic novel.

Despite this monumental accomplishment, the news has received surprisingly little coverage. Since the announcement two weeks ago, only a few mainstream and trade publications, such as the Seattle Times and Publishers Weekly, along with one major comic book news outlet, Comics Beat, have reported on the win.

The Pulitzer Prize Board described Feeding Ghosts as "An affecting work of literary art and discovery whose illustrations bring to life three generations of Chinese women – the author, her mother, and grandmother, and the experience of trauma handed down with family histories." The novel took Hulls nearly a decade to create and explores the impact of Chinese history on three generations. It delves into the life of her grandmother, Sun Yi, a Shanghai journalist who fled to Hong Kong after the 1949 Communist victory, wrote a best-selling memoir, and later suffered a mental breakdown from which she never recovered.

Hulls' narrative also reflects her own journey, growing up amidst the unexamined trauma and mental illness of her mother and grandmother. She left home to travel to remote parts of the world, only to return and confront her own fears and traumas, a process she describes as a generational haunting that required the love of family to heal. In an interview last month, Hulls stated, “I didn’t feel like I had a choice. My family ghosts literally told me I had to do this. My book is called Feeding Ghosts, because that was the beginning of this nine-year process of really stepping into something that was my family duty.”

Despite the success of Feeding Ghosts, Hulls has indicated that this might be her only graphic novel. In another interview, she explained, “I learned that being a graphic novelist is really too isolating for me. My creative practice relies on being out in the world and responding to what I find there.” On her website, she expresses her intention to transition into becoming an embedded comics journalist, working alongside field scientists, indigenous groups, and nonprofits in remote environments.

Regardless of Hulls' future endeavors, Feeding Ghosts deserves widespread recognition and celebration beyond the realm of comics, highlighting the profound impact and artistic merit of graphic novels.