Me and my sister at Grandma’s garden in South Korea

Aram Kim [ah-rahm: both a’s sound like those in the laughter sound, haha] is a writer, illustrator, and designer of children’s picture books. She was born in Ohio, raised in South Korea, and now lives in New York, happily surrounded by diverse food and culture. By day, she is an Art Director in the picture book team at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. At all other times, she writes and illustrates her own stories.

As an Art Director, Aram designed and oversaw many award-winning picture books including 2021 Caldecott Medal Winner We Are Water Protectors and 2021 Caldecott Honor Winner A Place Inside of Me. She has worked with both debut illustrators and established illustrators on a wide range of children’s books.

As an author/illustrator of acclaimed picture books, Aram wrote and illustrated several books. Her debut picture book Cat on the Bus was called a “beautifully designed visual work” by School Library Journal and included in the Children’s Choice Reading List 2017 by ILA/CBC, as well as New York Public Library’s summer reading list 2018. No Kimchi For Me!, about family, food, intergenerational connections, has universal themes, and at the same time celebrates Korean culture. It was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection, Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year 2018, and 2018 A Baker’s Dozen: The Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy by The Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Its sequel Let’s Go to Taekwondo! (Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year 2021) came out in April 2020 and the following book in the Yoomi, Friends and Family series, Sunday Funday in Koreatown came out in March 2021. Both are also selected as Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection as well as Aram’s most recent book, Tomorrow is New Year’s Day published in December 2022, about Seollal, a Korean celebration of a Lunar New Year.

Aram is a recipient of 2022 Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children’s Literacy.

  • Represented by:
    Erica Rand Silverman, Stimola Literary Studio erica@stimolaliterarystudio.com

  • Librarians, Teachers, and Readers:
    I love hearing from all of you! Write me directly to a@aramkim.com

    (Note to illustrators: I truly apologize that I don’t accept illustration portfolio in this personal email. Portfolio submission has to come through Macmillan.)

  • How to pronounce my name? Click below audio.

http://kidlit.tv StoryMakers' host Rocco Staino interviews children's literature author and illustrator Aram Kim, the creator of Cat On The Bus! Young readers will have fun looking for clues in this picture book! Aram started creating art at a young age; she loved drawing princesses and horses, and coloring!

Read along with author and illustrator Aram Kim on this episode of Read Out Loud on Governors Island! In this picture book, follow Yoomi as she tries to find a way to eat kimchi! But will she find a way to eat the food that she dislikes so much?

http://kidlit.tv On this episode of StoryMakers in the Kitchen, learn how to make kimchi pancakes with author/illustrator Aram Kim!