Annual Mortenson Distinguished Lecture

About Jeff Chiba Stearns and his Lecture

Jeff Chiba Stearns is an Emmy® nominated and multi-award-winning animation and documentary filmmaker, author, illustrator, and educator. A graduate of Emily Carr University with a degree in Film Animation, he founded Vancouver-based animation studio and publishing company Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. in 2001.

Jeff’s films including What Are You Anyways? (2005), Yellow Sticky Notes (2007), One Big Hapa Family (2010), and Mixed Match (2016) have been broadcast internationally, screened at hundreds of film festivals, and received dozens of awards. As a yonsei, fourth-generation Japanese Canadian of mixed Japanese and European heritage, his work frequently explores identity, family, culture, and belonging. He coined the term “Hapanimation” to describe his distinctive fusion of anime and manga influences with a North American cartoon aesthetic.

As an educator and speaker, Jeff has presented workshops, lectures, and screenings at hundreds of universities, elementary and secondary schools, and cultural institutions across Canada and around the world.

Jeff is also an acclaimed author and illustrator. His picture books include Mixed Critters (2018), Nori and His Delicious Dreams (2020), and the bestselling graphic novel On Being Yukiko (2021), created with Lillian Michiko Blakey. His graphic novel Tomey was released in 2025, followed by Ojiichan’s Dragon in Fall 2026.

DESCRIPTION: For more than two decades, Emmy-nominated and award-winning animation and documentary director, author, and illustrator Jeff Chiba Stearns has used visual storytelling to explore the intersections of Japanese Canadian history, mixed-race identity, family, and culture. Jeff will reflect on his creative journey—from his early animated and documentary films exploring what it means to be mixed-race and a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian, to his current work addressing these themes through children’s books and graphic novels. 

Drawing from his projects such as One Big Hapa Family, Mixed Match, On Being Yukiko, Tomey: The Unyielding Spirit of Tomekichi Homma, and his latest graphic novel, Ojiichan’s Dragon, Jeff will share how his own experiences and family stories have shaped the subjects, characters, and worlds he creates. As a social justice advocate and educator, Jeff will discuss the importance of reclaiming and preserving Japanese Canadian stories, including the history of the more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated during the Second World War, and why this history remains relevant today. 

Through behind-the-scenes stories, artwork, film clips, and personal reflections, Jeff will explore how a creative practice can evolve over 25 years—and how animation, illustration, comics, and film can make history accessible while creating space for conversations about identity, belonging, intergenerational memory, and cultural inheritance.

Youth Literature Festival and Book Exhibition

The Youth Literature Festival brings award-winning authors of youth literature to area schools over three days, culminating in a Community Day Celebration on September 26 with author panels, activities for kids, and performances for the whole family. A biennial event, the Festival is offered at no cost to participants or school districts, thanks to volunteers and generous sponsors. 

A Youth Literature Festival, Community Day Exhibit, located on the second floor of the Main Library in the Media Commons (220 Corridor Exhibition Space), runs through September and features participating authors and their books.  

AsiaLENS/Mortenson Screening | “One Big Hapa Family” – September 24, 2026; 5:45pm – Registration

5:15-5:45pm Registration and light refreshments
5:45pm One Hapa Family film screening (85min)
7:25pm Post-Film discussion with Jeff Chiba Stearns and Jason Finkelman (School of Music) and Audience Q&A

About the Film:
After a realization at a family reunion, half Japanese-Canadian filmmaker, Jeff Chiba Stearns, embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find out why everyone in his Japanese-Canadian family married inter-racially after his grandparents’ generation. This feature live action and animated documentary explores why almost 100% of all Japanese-Canadians are marrying inter-racially, the highest out of any other ethnicity in Canada, and how their children perceive their unique multiracial identities. One Big Hapa Family challenges our perceptions of purity and makes us question if mixing is the end of multiculturalism as we know it
–imdb

Libraries for Peace (L4P) Day, 9/21

Libraries for Peace (L4P) Day calls on libraries and librarians around the world to annually observe International Day of Peace on 21 September, and to pledge to act to advance peace.  The Annual Mortenson Distinguished Lecture is presented as a L4P Day activity. Read more about L4P at https://www.library.illinois.edu/mortenson/libraries-for-peace

Co-Sponsors

The Lecture is co-organized with the Youth Literature Festival (YLF) and is co-sponsored by:
University of Illinois Library Urbana-Champaign | School of Information Sciences | College of Education | Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies | Mortenson Center for International Library Programs