Suzy Lee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lee Suzy
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| Born | February 9, 1974 Seoul, South Korea |
| Occupation | Illustrator, author |
| Language | Korean |
| Genre | Children's literature, picture books, artists’ books |
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Suzy Lee (Korean: 이수지; born February 9, 1974) is a talented Korean artist. She writes and illustrates amazing picture books for children. She is famous for exploring the fun and sometimes tricky parts between what's real and what's make-believe.
Suzy Lee is especially known for her "silent books," which are picture books without any words. Her three famous books – Mirror (2003), Wave (2008), and Shadow (2010) – are called "The Border Trilogy." In these books, she uses the middle part where the pages meet to tell a story. This middle line becomes a border between reality and fantasy. The New York Times even named Wave and Shadow among the Best Illustrated Children's Books in their years. In 2022, Suzy Lee won the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award is like the Nobel Prize for children's literature, which is a huge honor!
Contents
About Suzy Lee
Suzy Lee was born and grew up in Seoul, South Korea. She studied painting at Seoul National University and finished in 1996. She started her career as an illustrator, drawing pictures for books and other things.
Soon, she became very interested in picture books. She especially liked "artists' books," which are books made as works of art themselves. This led her to study Book Arts in London, England. She earned her master's degree in 2001. Her first book, Alice in Wonderland, was actually her final project for this degree. Since then, she has created more than thirty books!
Her Creative Journey
Suzy Lee's first picture book, Alice in Wonderland, was a big step in her career. She showed a draft of the book at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. This is a very important event for children's books. She found a publisher in Italy, and the book came out in 2002.
Her book La Revanche des Lapins was also noticed early on. It was chosen for an exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2002. Later, it was named one of "The Most Beautiful Swiss Books."
The Border Trilogy
Suzy Lee became widely known for her series of three books: Mirror (2003), Wave (2008), and Shadow (2010). These books are known as "The Border Trilogy." She even made a guide called The Border Trilogy to share how she created these special books.
Suzy Lee has shown her art all over the world. She has had exhibitions and attended book fairs in many countries. These include the United States, Germany, Brazil, China, Japan, and her home country, Korea. In 2013, she even illustrated the official poster for the Library of Congress National Book Festival in the U.S.
Her book Open This Little Book won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award in 2013. This award celebrates excellent children's literature. In 2016, she was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, which she then won in 2022. She also started her own publishing company called Hintoki Press. Through this company, she publishes her own unique and experimental books.
Her Unique Style
Suzy Lee believes that picture books are powerful. They can share simple truths in a beautiful way. This is why she loves to experiment with wordless picture books. She wants to show how much a story can say without any words at all.
She uses many different art materials. These include pens, pencils, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylic. She also uses different art methods like collage (sticking different materials together) and print-making. She especially enjoys using charcoal in her art.
Reality and Fantasy
A big theme in Suzy Lee's books is the space between reality and fantasy. She often explores how these two worlds connect and sometimes clash. She sees the center fold of a book's pages not as a problem, but as an opportunity.
In her "Border Trilogy," she uses this middle line as a border. It separates what's real from what's imagined. By doing this, she makes the physical book itself a part of the story. This helps readers use their own imagination even more.
Awards and Recognition
Suzy Lee has won many important awards for her amazing work:
- 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration
- 2020 Open Book Awards of Best Books Children and Young Adults Category, Taiwan - Wave
- 2020 The 60th Korean Publishing Culture Awards for Young People's Literature – River
- 2020 IBBY Honour List – River
- 2016 Shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award
- 2014 Please Touch Museum Annual Book Award, Philadelphia, U.S.A. – Open This Little Book
- 2014 Best Children's Books of the Year, Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education, U.S.A. – Open This Little Book
- 2013 Picture Book Honor Winner, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, U.S.A.- Open This Little Book
- 2010 Best Illustrated Album (Premio Album Ilustrado), El Gremio de Librerías de Madrid, Spain – Wave
- 2010 FNLIJ Award Luís Jardim – The Best Book without Text (Prêmio FNLIJ Luís Jardim – O Melhor Livro de Imagem), FNLIJ (Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil), Brazil – Wave
- 2010 The Best Illustrated Children's Books, The New York Times, U.S.A. – Shadow
- 2008 The Best Illustrated Children's Books, The New York Times, U.S.A. – Wave
- 2008 Best Books, Publishers Weekly, U.S.A. – Wave
- 2008 Best Books, School Library Journal, U.S.A. – Wave
- 2008 The Best Books of the Year, Kirkus Review, U.S.A. – Wave
- 2008 Gold Medal, Original Art Award, Society of Illustrators, U.S.A. – Wave
- 2008 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts, Children's Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English, U.S.A. – The Zoo
- 2005 The Illustrators Exhibition, Bologna Children's Book Fair, Italy – The Black Bird
- 2003 The Most Beautiful Swiss Books, Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Switzerland – La Revanche des Lapins
- 2002 The Illustrators Exhibition, Bologna Children's Book Fair, Italy – La Revanche des Lapins
Her Books
Here are some of the books Suzy Lee has created:
- 2020 ... Match (Hintoki Press) ISBN: 979-11-967188-6-2
- 2020 Hill Over Hill (Hintoki Press) ISBN: 979-11-967188-5-5
- 2019 Sim Cheong (Hintoki Press) ISBN: 979-11-967188-1-7
- 2019 The Magic Jar (Hintoki Press) ISBN: 979-11-967188-2-4
- 2019 The Boy Who Bought the Shade Under the Tree (Hintoki Press) ISBN: 979-11-967188-3-1
- 2018 River (BIR Publishing Co.) ISBN: 978-8-875707-63-7
- 2018 Lines (Chronicle Books) ISBN: 1452156654
- 2018 The Border Trilogy (Corraini Edizioni) ISBN: 978-88-757071-6-3
- 2010 Shadow(Chronicle Books) ISBN: 978-0-8118-7280-5
- 2008 Wave (Chronicle Books) ISBN: 978-0-8118-5924-0
- 2008 My Bright Atelier (BIR Publishing Co.) ISBN: 978-8-949101-60-6
- 2007 The Black Bird (Gilbut Children Publishing Co.) ISBN: 978-8-990025-30-2
- 2006 Action Korean Alphabet (Gilbut Children Publishing Co.) ISBN: 978-89-558217-9-6
- 2004 The Zoo(BIR Publishing Co.) ISBN: 978-89-491-0047-0
- 2003 Mirror (Edizioni Corraini) ISBN: 978-8-887942-40-8
- 2003 La Revanche des Lapins (La Joie de Lire) ISBN: 978-2882582485
- 2002 Alice in Wonderland (Corraini Edizioni) ISBN: 978-88-87942-27-9
- This book is kept in the Tate Modern’s Collection of Artist Books in London, U.K.
Books with Other Authors
Suzy Lee has also worked with other writers on these books:
- 2022 See You Someday Soon with Pat Zietlow Miller (Roaring Brook Press) ISBN 9781250221100
- 2020 The Yulu Linen with Cao Wenxuan (Bear Books) ISBN: 979-11-583618-2-2
- 2020 Dream of Becoming Water with Lucid Fall (Chungaram Media) ISBN: 979-11-587113-1-3
- 2017 This Beautiful Day with Richard Jackson (Atheneum) ISBN: 978-14-814413-9-1
- 2015 Ask Me with Bernard Waber (Houghton Mifflin) ISBN: 978-0547733944
- 2013 Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier (Chronicle Books) ISBN: 978-08-118678-3-2
- 2013 Love You, My Baby with Mun Hye-jin (BIR Publishing Co.) ISBN: 978-89-491185-0-5
- 2008 Shadow is My Friend with Park Jung-Sun (Chondung Books) ISBN: 978-89-900255-9-3
- 2008 Open the Door! with Park Jung-Sun (BIR Publishing Co) ISBN: 978-89-491517-1-7
- 2005 The ... Painters with Moon Seung-Yeon (Chondung Books) ISBN: 978-89-900250-9-8
