photo by: Lauren Fox

Author Jonny Sun answers a question from interviewer and KU associate professor of journalism Yvonnes Chen September 25, 2019 at Liberty Hall.

Author and illustrator Jonny Sun grew up in a household where he was told to suppress his emotions. Now, he finds acceptance and purpose in doing the exact opposite.

“It’s powerful to share what makes us feel vulnerable,” Sun told an audience of about 100 people who had turned out on Wednesday night to hear him give a University of Kansas Kenneth A. Spencer lecture at Liberty Hall.

Sun is known for his works addressing mental health issues such as social anxiety and depression, both of which he struggles with himself. He has half a million followers on his Twitter account, @jonnysun, where he tweets about his insecurities, loneliness and even his therapy sessions.

Sun said the internet is a place where he can be his true self, and a place where he can build communities and relationships with those who are experiencing similar issues as he is.

“I know that those feelings that I had of being too afraid to talk about my mental health, those were the silencing results of stigma,” Sun said. “And I’ve learned that speaking out about it and sharing helps to reduce stigma and helps ease the burdens so we don’t have to carry it by ourselves.”

Sun is also the creator of @tinycarebot, a Twitter account that puts out hourly reminders of self-care. “please take a moment to go get a sip of water,” one tweet says. Another: “remember to take a moment to look out the window please.”

Small acts such as these can make a big difference in one’s mood and mental health, Sun told the audience.

In addition to his work as a writer (Sun writes for Netflix’s “BoJack Horseman” and wrote the 2017 book “everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too”) and an illustrator (he illustrated Lin-Manuel Miranda’s book “Gmorning, Gnight!”) Sun also is an architect, engineer and playwright. In an onstage interview after the lecture, KU associate professor of journalism Yvonnes Chen asked Sun how he balances these talents.

“I don’t see this stuff as disparate things at all,” he said. “I don’t really see engineering as different than play writing, for example.”

In engineering, he said, one studies how things work and learns to identify the rules on which the universe operates. “Play writing sort of does the same function, just using a different type of language,” he said.

Chen also asked Sun what he would say if his alien protagonist in “everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too” asked him the same thing that the alien asks the creatures on Earth in the book: “Who are you?” or “What are you?”

“I am your creator!” Sun responded in a deep voice, making the audience — and himself — laugh. Then he added more seriously:

“I think I would just say I’m trying to figure stuff out. I’m trying to turn those things that I figure out into things to put out into the world.

“Ultimately, I’m someone who likes to make stuff.”

Attendee Richard Renner, 63, found Sun “very joyful. He reminded me of his drawings,” he said.

Renner called Sun “amazingly vulnerable,” and he said he connected with Sun’s message of sometimes feeling alienated.

“I thought I was an alien too at one point. I didn’t fit,” he said. Sun’s work reminds him of that time and what it felt like. And it reminds him that “it was OK.”