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

Click PRESS KIT for an official bio and a headshot

Aram Kim [a-ram: both a’s sound like those in the laughter sound, haha. See at the end of this bio to listen to the voice recording of my name] 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.

For more than a decade, Aram worked in publishing houses during the day as a Designer and later on as an Art Director while she worked on her own books during evenings and weekends. In January 2025, Aram decided to make a leap by leaving her day job so that she could fully focus on making her own books. Now she’s a full-time author-illustrator of picture books.

While she was working as a Designer and an Art Director at Macmillan, 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 worked with both debut illustrators and established illustrators on a wide range of children’s books.

Aram also wrote and illustrated several books of her own. 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 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. It’s also the beginning of the series Yoomi, Friends and Family also including Let’s Go to Taekwondo! (Junior Library Guild selection, Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year 2021), Sunday Funday in Koreatown (Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection), and upcoming Baby Cousin’s Big Day that is scheduled to be published in July 2025. Aram’s most recent book, Tomorrow is New Year’s Day was 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

  • 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!