Jonathan "Jonny" Sun, occasionally known by the nickname jomny, is a Canadian author and illustrator. He is the author of the 2017 illustrated novel ''everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too'' and a PhD candidate in

urban studies Urban studies is based on the study of the urban development of cities. This includes studying the history of city development from an architectural point of view, to the impact of urban design on community development efforts. The core theoretica ...

and planning at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. In 2018 he published ''Gmorning, Gnight!,'' a collaboration with playwright and actor

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals ''Hamilton'' (2015) and ''In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animate ...

in which Sun served as illustrator, and in 2020 Sun published an essay collection called ''Goodbye, Again.'' Sun also served as a writer on the television shows ''

BoJack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated Black comedy, black Comedy drama, comedy-drama streaming television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F ...

'' and '' Mrs. Davis.''

Early life and education

Sun is from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, getting his

Bachelor of Applied Science The Bachelor of Applied Science, often abbreviated as B.AS., BAS, BSAS, BASc, B.A.Sc., or BAppSc, is an undergraduate degree. There are also ''Bachelor of Arts and Science'' and ''Bachelor of Administration Science'' undergraduate degrees, also a ...

degree in

Engineering Science Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...

, majoring in Infrastructure Engineering. For his master's degree, he attended the

Yale School of Architecture The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...

. He is now a PhD candidate in

and planning at

and a creative researcher at the

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

metaLAB. He studies social media, virtual place, and online community.

Career

In June 2017, Sun published ''everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too''. The illustrated novel is based on a character Sun developed on Twitter, tweeting as an alien trying to learn to navigate life among humans. He has said the period in which he was beginning graduate school, and the toll that took on his mental health, was the impetus for the project, with the character offering an opportunity to work through the isolation and depression he experienced. Sun's second book, a collaboration with musical playwright and actor

, was released in October 2018. The book, called ''Gmorning, Gnite! Little Pep Talks For Me & You'', is a collection of affirmations drawn from Miranda's Twitter feed and illustrated by Sun. The book spent ten weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. In November 2018, he started working on an animated movie called 'Paper Lanterns'. He was a writer for season 6 of

Bojack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated Black comedy, black Comedy drama, comedy-drama streaming television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F ...

and limited series Mrs. Davis. Sun's third book, ''Goodbye, Again: Essays, Reflections, and Illustrations,'' was released in April 2021. The book was written during a self-imposed break from all of his work, and it became an instant New York Times bestseller, receiving praise from critics, who remarked on Sun's "personal voice" and "little bits of ephemera."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Jonny Living people Yale School of Architecture alumni University of Toronto alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni Writers from Calgary Canadian humorists Weird Twitter Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian male television writers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian male writers