The author, Gene Luen Yang, uses Dragon Hoops to entertain his audience thoroughly while telling both the story of the 2014-215 Bishop O’Dowd Dragons and his own memoir. He previously explored themes similar to those found in Dragon Hoops, such as the experience of an American immigrant, in the graphic novel American Born Chinese (2006), which was named a finalist for the National Book Award and was the only graphic novel to have earned that distinction. He is an ideal person to write this book by reason of his professional training and accomplishments as well as his self-avowed personality traits.

In terms of training, Yang is a former computer scientist with a degree in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. He was tempted to study art, as he enjoyed drawing comics as early as fifth grade, but his father wanted him to pursue a course of study with promise of a more lucrative career. Despite wearing many hats as a teacher and administrator at O’Dowd, Yang began to spend nights and weekends working on comic books, which resulted in his earning contracts with such big industry names as Dark Horse and Marvel Comics.