Yao Xiao is a cartoonist and illustrator living in New York. Her debut graphic novel, Everything Is Beautiful, And I’m Not Afraid was published by Andrews McMeel in 2020 and has received praise by Publishers Weekly and Ms. Magazine. Her debut children’s book How To Solve A Problem, written by Ashima Shiraishi and published by Penguin Random House received a starred review on Kirkus. She has been publishing Baopu, a serialized comic on Autostraddle since 2014 and has been featured on Buzzfeed and The Washington Post as guest cartoonist. Her work has been nominated for the Ignatz Award and recognized by the Society of Illustrators.

 As a freelance illustrator, her work has been featured in TIME Magazine, Buzzfeed, Vice, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, National Geographic, School Library Journal and the Wall Street Journal among others. She is the illustrator to create Katy Perry’s album cover for “Dark Horse.” Yao has shown her work at galleries in New York, San Francisco and Seattle. 

Yao was born in China and emigrated to the United States in 2006. After graduation with a degree in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts, Yao sought a way to document her experiences as a queer immigrant in and developed a series of comics incorporating illustration and writing. Yao Xiao continues to seek opportunities as an artist, writer and illustrator and to connect to others through her work.