Maia Kobabe

Maia Kobabe studied at California College of the Arts. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is comic, illustration and book illustration. Places of work recorded in the authority are California. Employment is recorded with The Nib, The Press Democrat and SF Weekly. Works named in the authority record are Gender Queer.

• Born — 1989 • Nationality — American • Cartoonist — y • Write — y • Notable Works — Gender Queer • Awards — * Alex Awards (2020) • Stonewall Book Awards (2020)

Kobabe was one of the first students enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts in Comics program at California College of the Arts, and graduated in 2015.

Kobabe's graphic nonfiction work has been featured in The Nib, The Press Democrat, and SF Weekly, among other publications. Kobabe's first full-length book Gender Queer: A Memoir was published by Lion Forge Comics in 2019. When asked in a Time magazine interview why Kobabe wrote the book, Kobabe said: Gender Queer was made available in some school libraries but was subsequently banned by a school district in Alaska, due to its sexually explicit content. Kobabe responded to the controversy with an opinion piece in The Washington Post, suggesting that accusers were upset less by the sexually explicit images and language than by the LGBTQ themes of the book. Gender Queer was listed as one of the most banned or challenged books in September 2021 by The American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF). According to a report (September 2022) from PEN America, Kobabe was the second most banned author in US school districts during the 2021–22 school year, with Gender Queer the most frequently challenged book, banned in 41 school districts. Discussing a wave of book censorship in early 2022 within the United States in a Slate interview, Kobabe said: • Illustration — Kobabe at Small Press Expo 2023 In January 2023, Scholastic acquired a middle-grade graphic novel by Kobabe and Lucky Srikumar "in a six-figure auction". The novel, titled Opting Out, was published by Scholastic's imprint Graphix on May 5, 2026.

Kobabe uses Spivak pronouns (e/em/eir) and is non-binary and asexual. Kobabe is dyslexic and did not learn to read until age 11.

Kobabe has published short comics in the following anthologies: • Alphabet (Stacked Deck Press, 2016) • Tabula Idem: A Queer Tarot Comic Anthology (Fortuna Media, 2017) • The Secret Loves of Geeks (Dark Horse Comics, 2018) • Gothic Tales of Haunted Love (Bedside Press, 2018) • Mine!: A Celebration of Liberty And Freedom For All Benefiting Planned Parenthood (ComicMix, 2018) • Faster Than Light, Y’all (Iron Circus Comics, 2018) • Advanced Death Saves (Lost His Keys Man Comics, 2019) • How to Wait: An Anthology of Transition (edited by Sage Persing, 2019) • Theater of Terror: Revenge of the Queers (Northwest Press, 2019) • Rolled and Told Vol. 2 (Oni Press, 2020) • Be Gay, Do Comics (IDW Publishing, 2020)