Comics artist, zine maker, and illustrator Vivian Li fell in love with Book Bingo on her second day living in Seattle. It was July of 2018, and she stopped at The Seattle Public Library’s Queen Anne Branch for a break after hiking up Queen Anne hill.
A longtime fan of summer reading programs, she immediately spotted the Book Bingo display.
“It was so much fun,” she says. “And every year since then, I’ve always picked up a board.”
Since that time, Vivian has explored many aspects of Seattle and beyond in her work as an artist, writer, educator, and history storyteller. She has been the SDOT Fremont Bridge Artist in Residence, a teaching artist with Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools, and is currently the 2025 Innovator in Residence with the Library of Congress. She is also cofounder of the recently opened Paper Pushers community zine shop.
But drawing the 2026 Book Bingo cards was a true highlight. “I always thought it would be so cool to design the board. When I got the email from Seattle Arts & Lectures, I couldn’t believe it. I screamed.”
Below, Vivian shares a bit about this year’s board design, her lifelong love of libraries, and – of course – a few Book Bingo reading suggestions.
What’s your connection to libraries?
I’ve always been a library kid. Growing up in Illinois in the summer, every single day I’d go swimming, and then I’d go to the library. So I was always a big fan.
How did you come up with the idea for your Book Bingo board?
I love drawing characters, and especially produce. I thought, especially in Washington, it would be fun to do a board with all the local produce as characters living their King County life. I’m a member of a community-supported agriculture farm (CSA), Jubilee Farm. I pulled ideas from there, focusing on vegetables that can be grown here, such as broccoli, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and squash.
We love how your produce characters are enjoying so many summer reading adventures. How did you choose these activities?
We have a big bird-watching community. And mahjong nights are really popular. So those are both in there. One square is inspired by the Volunteer Park concerts that happen on Thursdays. It’s one of my favorite traditions. I was also inspired by the people who fish at Green Lake and in West Seattle. And people are doing tai chi all the time in Magnuson Park. I really wanted to show as many different lives as I could.
I also left a space [on the board] where you could draw your own little character. 😊
For the youth board [offered by Seattle Arts & Lectures] I was inspired by the kids I used to teach at Leschi Elementary and all their hobbies.
Your boards also fit together into a cityscape, right?
In between the streets [on the board], you have characters enjoying snippets of Seattle life. But if you put multiple boards together, they grid up into a city. The adult board also connects to the youth board. If people are doing Book Bingo with other people in their household, they can hang all their boards up next to each other.
What does Book Bingo success look like for you?
I just like reading books and connecting with other people in my life. I’ve never even gotten bingo before. And I love filling out the board with little drawings of the books.
In the years that I am reading more, I’m more connected with other people in my life. Book Bingo is similar for me – participating with others not only keeps me more accountable, but I’m also excited to read books that the people in my life have recommended and know we’re all working on a common goal.
What are some book recommendations for Book Bingo players?
One is “The Summer Book,” by Tove Jansen. It’s truly magical. I think it was the first book that I read where I was like, the writing is the art form.
Another is “Dancing After TEN,” by Vivian Chong, which is a graphic novel published by Fantagraphics about an artist named Vivian who lost her sense of sight and hearing in her adult life, and how she learned to deal with that.
For a kids’ recommendation, I love “Bug Boys” by Laura Knetzger, a local comics illustrator. It’s about a rhinoceros beetle and stag beetle, who have other friends who are bugs and living their lives.
You are also a Library of Congress Innovator in Residence, which is the coolest title. Can you tell us about your LoC project, Anywhere Adventures, which tells the histories of urban sites such as the Fremont and Montlake Bridges, the Historic Ships Wharf, and Alice Ball Park?
For Anywhere Adventures, I integrated text, archival items, and comics to create easy-to-digest historic stories. I’ve been collecting stories for three locations across the U.S.: Seattle, Chicago and southeast Wyoming.
Before I was the artist in residence at the Fremont Bridge, I had not gone to a city’s archives or a library’s Special Collections. I wanted to share the excitement of learning about a place that I had taken for granted. I wanted to replicate that feeling for the Innovator program.
Thanks to Vivian for sharing about Book Bingo and other amazing projects she’s involved in!
Find out more about Vivian at her Instagram page VivianLikesFruit or stop by Paper Pushers in downtown Seattle, a community zine space with an international inventory of zines and frequent workshops. And check out Anywhere Adventures online.
Caption for top photo: Vivian with her dog Cleo at Paper Pushers, holding the 2026 Book Bingo card that she designed.