Nor Sanavongsay

Background

He grew up watching Transformers, Bruce Lee movies, Thundercats, and other cartoons of the 1980s.

Career

The Sanavongsay family came to the United States in the aftermath of the Laotian Civil War. He was four years old at the time. In August 1979 they relocated to Elgin, Illinois, where he would spend the next 30 years.

He also had a fascination with comic books and graphic novels.

He honed his artistic skills as the years passed by, and he initially went to Northern Illinois University to study to be an illustrator. He eventually changed his major to web design, graduating in 1998.

He has actively been involved as a volunteer with the SatJaDham Lao Literary Project, the National Lao American Writers Summit, the Lao Artists Festival of Elgin, Legacies of War, the Center for Lao Studies, the Lao Heritage Foundation, Laos in the House, and the Kinnaly Dance Troupe, among many others In 2013, he founded Sahtu Press, Incorporated., a nonprofit publishing company with the mission to promote Lao literature to the world.

Professionally, he has worked for companies including Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sears, Zoosk, Barnes & Noble and currently Workday, Incorporated.

He is the author of the 2013 children"s book A Sticky Mess inspired by classic Lao folktales, particularly that of the folk hero Xieng Mieng. In interviews he noted that it took nearly 14 years to finally get the book to publication and that it had gone through many iterations. He has announced intentions for a five-book series over the next ten years.

The first run of the book"s publication was funded through Kickstarter.

Nor Sanavongsay is also at work developing the children"s book series Kiwi the Green Koala with Doctor Poe Phetthongsy. Recently, he has been sharing examples of his work depicting the classical Lao legends of the Kinnaly.

Achievements

• 2014 – Strange Horizons Readers Choice Award in poetry with Bryan Thao Worra. 2010 – Lao American Illustrator Award, Lao Professionals of Elgin 2008 – iPhone web app Staff Picks (CHORD-Ccom web app) 1999 – Yahoo! Site of the Week (Encyclopedia Britannica"s "Discovering Dinosaurs" Spotlight Site).