Li Chen

Li Chen (1986–) is an award-winning author, illustrator, and comic artist with a successful career combining her passion for art with her love of cats. Born in Beijing, Li grew up in Hamilton after moving there with her parents when she was five. She first began making comics in 2009 after studying architecture at the University of Auckland the previous year.

Following graduation, Li began making and posting short comics on Facebook whilst job-hunting. These would eventually evolve into Extra Ordinary, Li’s longest-running comics series. Li continues to update Extra Ordinary regularly on her website and Instagram. In 2012 independently published two volumes of the comics. The success from these volumes allowed Li to become a full-time comic artist and freelance illustrator.

Li is best known for her graphic novel series, Detective Beans, which began as a Patreon-exclusive slice-of-life comic series called Cat Town in 2021. Originally posted in 2-page strips, Li was later approached by Penguin Random House NZ to create a new, connected, longform comic based on the series. Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat arrived in bookstores in May of 2024. Colourful, silly, and creative, The Case of the Missing Hat follows Cat Town’s best kitten detective on a case of utmost importance: the whereabouts of his missing hat. Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat quickly hit bestsellers lists and was nominated Book of the Month at QBD Books and Collins Booksellers Australia. In 2025, it won the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction, which as RNZ reports, makes Li the first winner of a NZCYA Book Award from China.

The second instalment in the Detective Beans series, Adventures in Cat Town, features a collection of Cat Town adventures and comics from Patreon. Re-organised and enhanced, the collection was published through Penguin Books in 2025 while Li wrote and illustrated the third book for the series, The Map of Mystery. Adventures in Cat Town was shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Junior Fiction Book in 2026.

Detective Beans and the Map of Mystery was then published by Penguin Books in 2026 and follows Beans as he embarks on a new quest, chasing a brand-new mystery. Can Beans find Captain Scuttlebeard’s secret treasure in time to make it home and clean his room?

A cat-lover to her core, Li has a variety of fun, cat-themed activities available on her Detective Beans website and an up-coming colouring-in book, Detective Beans Colouring Club: Curious Cats set to release in October 2026. Li also shares the occasional Silly Cat comic about her cats, Copy and Paste, which can be found free to read across all her social media and her Patreon.

Whilst Li’s comics are intended for and enjoyed by all ages, she enjoys sharing her love for stories and art with children. In 2026, Li was a featured writer at the Auckland Writers Festival delivering workshops for their Upper Primary Programme. In addition, she also visits schools as part of Read NZ Te Pou Muramura’s Writers in School’s programme.

When she’s not drawing, Li likes to hang out with her cats and or go on really long walks around Hamilton, where she lives with her partner.