Neena Phan got her start in storytelling, oddly enough, at fashion school. At Parsons The New School for Design, she learned concept creation, character design, mood-boarding, and storyboarding—all the ingredients a storyteller needs.
It wasn’t apparent to her that she was a “real” storyteller until the last semester of her senior year, when she took a children’s book illustration class…and her entire world changed.
She realized she’d stopped herself from becoming a writer at a young age because the idea that “writing doesn’t make money” had been firmly planted in her head. So, to appease her parents’ wishes, she tried engineering and fashion design (crazy, right?)—only to crash and burn miserably. Eventually, she broke through that illusion, gave herself permission to call herself a real writer, and hasn’t looked back since.
As a highly sensitive, half-Vietnamese, half-Cambodian Asian American writer, Neena is naturally drawn to stories about people who don’t feel like they belong anywhere—or who feel they’re somehow not enough of one thing. After recovering from her first psychotic episode in 2015 and navigating mental health challenges throughout her life, she also feels a deep responsibility to write neurodivergent characters with honesty, heart, and humanity.
Her slightly unruly imagination tends to lead her toward magical realism filled with heart and humor. As a storyteller, she hopes to create mirrors for people who haven’t yet found their “home” in the world—and remind them that belonging is possible. Sometimes you just have to find where you fit.
She is currently concocting new characters, baking up batches of plots, learning how to animate—and absolutely loving it. Her debut picture book, THE LONELY FOX, will be published by Clarion Books. She lives in Kentucky with her husband.
For inquiries, please contact neenaphan@gmail.com.
AWARDS | RECOGNITION:
– Dilys Evans Founder’s Award, Society of Illustrators, The Original Art (The Lonely Fox) 2026 ~ Winner
– Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê) 2024 ~ semi-finalist
– Festigious, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê) 2024 ~ WINNER best action screenplay
– Best Script Award – London 2024 (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê) ~ official selection
Festigious, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê) ~ top 10 screenplays
– New York Metropolitan Screenwriting Competition and Film Awards, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê) 2024 ~ quarter-finalist
– Wiki: The World’s Fastest Screenplay Contest, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê), 2024 ~ semi-finalist
– Serious Writer’s Writer of the Year Award, (A World of Ideas), 2023 ~ Winner
– SCBWI Midsouth WNBA Unpublished Scholarship, (A World of Ideas), 2023 ~ Second place
– SCBWI Work-in-Progress Award, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê), 2022 ~ Underrepresented Voices Winner
– Claymore Award, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê), 2022 ~ Finalist
– BPL Writers-in-Residence, (The Wonder-Filled Norah Minh Lê), 2021-2022 ~ Finalist
– Carnegie’s Next Great Writer Contest, (Poetry Collection: “MY MAP”), 2021 ~ Second place
– SCBWI Midsouth Mentorship Program, 2021 ~ recipient of the E & I Scholarship Award
– SCBWI LA Conference, 2019 ~ Illustration Mentorship Award
– Brooklyn Public Library Symposium, 2019 ~ Storymakers Award
