Meet Vivian Li, Our 2026 Summer Book Bingo Board Illustrator
March 24, 2026
Seattle Arts & Lectures, The Seattle Public Library, and King County Library System are so pleased to announce that local artist and former WITS Writer Vivian Li will be illustrating our 2026 Summer Book Bingo Boards! With her dreamy color palettes and imaginative designs, we can’t wait for readers of all ages to be delighted by Vivian’s work.
Every year, we partner with The Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System to create a Summer Book Bingo card as part of a free program of summer reading fun. Readers play along from May to September to be entered in a chance to win fabulous prizes. Learn more about the program and view previous bingo boards here.
Vivian Li (@vivianlikesfruit) is a Seattle-based comics artist, zine maker, and illustrator. She tells funny, charming, and kind stories about occurrences both everyday and fantastic. She was the SDOT Fremont Bridge Artist in Residence in 2023 and is currently serving as the 2025 Innovator in Residence with the Library of Congress. In her studio, she has a risograph, large guillotine, sewing machine, small guillotine, long arm stapler, and a bone folder.
By Vivian Li, 2026 Summer Book Bingo Board Illustrator
Growing up, one of the highlights of my summer vacation was participating in my library’s summer reading program. I was a hungry reader, and being rewarded for something I already loved doing was awesome. When I moved to Seattle, and I was hiking the hills every day trying to find a place to live, I’d stop at the libraries for air conditioning and see what the summer reading program was like here. That’s when I picked up my first book bingo board, and that became the first Seattle tradition I adopted.
I joined the cohort of teaching artists in Writers in the Schools in 2023. I got to visit classrooms all across King County and spend an hour with students once a week, creating comics. Comics are great! Because they combine words and illustration, there’s something there for everyone. If a kid didn’t like to write, they could draw. And if they didn’t like to draw, they could draw badly! (Or just write.)
As an art form, comics are so open – the only requirement is that you create them. I love libraries because they’re similarly open: whether it’s for access to the internet, a free program to learn a new skill, asking questions of a librarian, or the heaps of books and media available for checking out – there’s something for everybody at the library. Libraries are community builders: you can show up as you are, and that’s wonderful.
Posted in Summer Book Bingo 2025/26 Season