Kat Kan, a tireless advocate for graphic novels in libraries for over 40 years, died on October 12, 2026, at the age of 71. In addition to working as both a public and a school librarian, Kan was a prolific writer and reviewer, an advisor to library suppliers, an advocate for graphic novels within the American Library Association, and a vital member of the comics community, someone who was both well-known and well liked.
Kan was born Katharine Louise Stonebraker in Tokyo in 1955. Her father was in the Air Force, so her childhood was spent in several different places, including California, Georgia, and Hawaii as well as Japan. She studied English Literature and Classics at Scripps College, then moved to the University of Hawaii, where she earned a BA in History and an MLS in Library Studies.
For most of her life, Kan was a professional librarian, starting at the Hawaii state library system, where she rose to Director of Young Adult Services, and later moving on to the Allen County, Indiana, library. She was the Library Media Specialist at St. John’s Catholic School in Panama City, Florida, for 12 years, then moved to the Bay County Public Library, also in Panama City, where she was the reference librarian. She retired just a few weeks before she died. In addition to working inside libraries, Kan was a Graphic Novel Specialist at the library services company Brodart, for almost 20 years, and she was also a Graphic Novel Consultant at H.W. Wilson, another library supplier.
Graphic novels were still in their infancy in 1983, when Kan began bringing them into libraries; Will Eisner’s A Contract with God was published in 1978, and Art Spiegelman’s Maus would not appear until 1986. Her “Graphically Speaking” column, which ran in the library magazine Voice of Youth Advocates from 1994 to 2019, was influential in getting libraries to acquire them, as librarians depend on professional reviews for guidance in building a collection. “Her column was vital for helping comics to get the recognition they deserve in the library world, and to be treated as ‘real’ reading,” said Robin Brenner, Head of Reference and Programming at the Woburn (MA) Public Library and a comics expert in her own right.
Publishing executive Rich Johnson met Kan at the American Library Association annual meeting in 1997, when he was VP of Book Trade Sales at DC. “Diamond had a booth, but I was the only one from a comic book publisher attending,” he said. “I had many librarians just walk by my table. One guy actually stopped, looked at the books, looked at my sign, looked at me and said, ‘DC Comics? What are you doing here, this is a library show.’ I wasn’t holding out much hope for libraries.
“Then I started hearing the name Kat Kan. She knew about graphic novels. ‘Have you met Kat Kan? You should talk to Kat Kan.’ It didn’t take much for me to find her, because she found me.”
By the mid-2000s, graphic novels were a well-established category in libraries, bookstores, and comic shops, and Kan was recognized as an expert in the field. She was the first librarian to be an Eisner Judge (in 2005), and she was a panelist at the very first ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference at the first New York Comic Con in 2006 (see “ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference Panels“) and a contributor to ICv2 Guide (see “ICv2 Releases ICv2 Guide #40: Graphic Novels“).
Not only did she promote graphic novels in libraries, she helped create a community of comics librarians and advocates within the ALA as well. As a member of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), she was chair of the task force that established the annual Great Graphic Novels for Teens list, which launched in 2007 (see “YALSA 2007 Great Graphic Novels“).
“Kat was one of the first in the library world to encourage me as a library school student to join the ranks of comics librarians when we all got to know each other entirely through email listservs,” Brenner said. “She encouraged me to join ALA, and she then advocated for me to be included in the ALA/YALSA Task Force to establish the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. I would not be the librarian I am without her mentorship and encouragement.”
When manga started gaining ground with American teenagers, Kan was there to make sure librarians knew about it. “She especially championed manga, helping to get the word out as the first manga wave started swelling. She was willing to talk with anyone who had questions about the format and wrote for several publications on the topic,” said Eva Volin, Supervising Children’s Librarian at the Alameda (CA) Free Library.
“Kat was a pioneer in the effort to have libraries carry graphic novels,” Johnson said. “She evangelized wherever she went. Everyone knew her. She was passionate, knowledgeable and a great spokesperson for the cause we were fighting for. She was also just a lovely human being.”
“She loved comics, and especially manga, as well as always being a cheerful advocate for sequential art in all of the places she worked in: in her own libraries, in schools, at ALA, and at comics conventions,” Brenner said. “Personally, I will remember her great laugh, her many fabulous earrings, and her indefatigable spirit and joy in introducing anyone and everyone to the format she loved.”
Source: ICV2
