The graphic novel Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls, published by MCD in 2024, has clinched the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, announced on May 5. This remarkable achievement marks it as only the second graphic novel to ever win the Pulitzer, following Art Spiegelman’s Maus in 1992, which received a Special Award. In contrast, Feeding Ghosts secured a win in the regular category of Memoir or Autobiography, triumphing over some of the finest English prose in the world. Notably, this is Hulls' debut graphic novel, adding to the significance of this accolade.

The Pulitzer Prize is widely regarded as the pinnacle of recognition in the fields of journalism, literature, and music in the United States, ranking just below the Nobel Prize on the international stage. Despite this monumental news in the realm of comics, the coverage has been unexpectedly sparse. Since the announcement two weeks ago, only a few mainstream and trade publications, such as Seattle Times and Publishers Weekly, along with one major comic book news outlet, Comics Beat, have reported on this historic 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 graphic novel, which took nearly a decade to complete, delves into the echoes of Chinese history across three generations. Hulls’ grandmother, Sun Yi, was a Shanghai journalist caught in the upheaval of the 1949 Communist victory. After fleeing to Hong Kong, she penned a best-selling memoir about her persecution and survival, but subsequently suffered a mental breakdown from which she never recovered.

Hulls herself grew up witnessing the struggles of her mother and grandmother under the burden of unaddressed trauma and mental illness. Her response was to leave home for the most remote parts of the world, only to eventually return and confront her own fears and traumas. This journey of healing and familial duty is encapsulated in her statement from an interview last month: “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 acclaim, Feeding Ghosts might be Hulls' 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, Hulls expresses her intent to transition into an embedded comics journalist, working alongside field scientists, indigenous groups, and nonprofits in remote environments.

Whatever the future holds for this pioneering artist, Feeding Ghosts merits widespread recognition and celebration beyond the comics community and into the broader literary world.