Wikipedia

Suzy Lee

In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.

Suzy Lee (Korean: 이수지; born February 9, 1974) is a Korean picture-book illustrator and author. She is critically acclaimed as an artist who explores the pleasures and tensions that lie between reality and fantasy. She is also known for her remarkable achievements in the field of wordless picture books, or silent books.[1] She gained global attention for her three works – Mirror (2003), Wave (2008), and Shadow (2010), known collectively as "The Border Trilogy" – using the center binding of the pages of a book as a means to create a narrative crossing the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Wave and Shadow were respectively named by The New York Times as Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2008 and 2010.[2] Wave was also awarded the gold medal for Original Art by the Society of Illustrators in 2008.[3] In 2016, Suzy Lee was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award,[4] regarded as the Nobel Prize for children's literature, an award which she received in 2022.[5] Lee has received a number of other prestigious awards from around the world including the FNLIJ[6] Award Luís Jardim for the Best Book without Text in 2008 and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature in 2013.

Lee Suzy
Born (1974-02-09) February 9, 1974 (age 50)
Seoul, South Korea
OccupationIllustrator, author
LanguageKorean
GenreChildren's literature, picture books, artists’ books
Notable works
  • Mirror, Wave, Shadow
  • Open This Little Book, Lines
Website
www.suzyleebooks.com

Biography

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Lee was born and raised in Seoul. She received a Bachelor of Fine arts in Painting from Seoul National University in 1996. She started out her professional career as an illustrator, but she soon became fascinated with picture books upon encountering the world of artists’ books. She decided to pursue graduate studies, receiving her Master's in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Arts in London, England in 2001. The following year, she published her first book, Alice in Wonderland, which was also her final graduation project.[7] Since then, she has published over thirty books.[8] Lee organized projects such as the leader of the artist collective, Vacance Project,[9] and illustrating Dream of Becoming Water, a book interpretation of a song by the same title by Korean singer-songwriter Lucid Fall.[10]

Career

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Suzy Lee made her debut as a picture-book artist with Alice in Wonderland, which was the final project for her master's program. She participated in the Bologna Children's Book Fair with a dummy of the book and pitched it to publishers, eventually signing a deal with the Italian publishing house Corraini Edizioni in 2002. La Revanche des Lapins, for which she was selected for the Illustrator's Exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2002, was published in Switzerland the following year and recognized as one of "The Most Beautiful Swiss Books."[11] Lee gained attention in the picture-book world for the publication of the series of three books, Mirror (2003), Wave (2008), and Shadow (2010), complemented by The Border Trilogy, a manual to the series sharing the details of her creative process and approach to picture-books. Beginning with her solo exhibition highlighting "The Border Trilogy" at the Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMBo) in Italy,[12][13] Suzy Lee has been engaging with readers and audiences across the world through exhibitions and book fairs held in countries including the United States, Swenden, Germany, Brazil, Spain, China, Singapore, Japan, India, Mexico, Italy, France and Korea. In 2013, she illustrated the official poster for the Library of Congress National Book Festival.[14] Later in the same year, she was honored with the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Open This Little Book.[15] In 2016, she was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in recognition of the literary and aesthetic innovation qualities of her works. She received the award in 2022.[5]In 2019, she received the 60th Korean Publishing Culture Award[16] and selected for the IBBY Honour List for River,[17] a book inspired by a personal story of her dog.[18] She has founded Hintoki Press,[19] an independent publishing house, through which she has directly published experimental works such as Sim Cheong and The Magic Jar. She also leads the project group, Vacance.

Style

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For Suzy Lee, the charm of picture-books lies in their power as a medium to convey the simplest truths in a simple yet refined manner. She uses a wide variety of materials from pen, pencil, charcoal, watercolor to acrylic, and different artistic practices including collage and print-making, depending on the book she is working on. She particularly enjoys using charcoal.[20] Suzy Lee's books often the relationship between fantasy and reality.[21]

Awards

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  • 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award Illustration[5]
  • 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[22]
  • 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

Works

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  • 2020 Fart 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[23] (Chronicle Books) ISBN 1452156654
  • 2018 The Border Trilogy (Corraini Edizioni) ISBN 978-88-757071-6-3
  • 2010 Shadow[24][25](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[26](BIR Publishing Co.) ISBN 978-89-491-0047-0
  • 2003 Mirror[27] (Edizioni Corraini) ISBN 978-8-887942-40-8
  • 2003 La Revanche des Lapins (La Joie de Lire) ISBN 978-2882582485
  • 2002 Alice in Wonderland[28] (Corraini Edizioni) ISBN 978-88-87942-27-9 *Currently housed in the Tate Modern’s Collection of Artist Books (London, U.K.)

Collaborations with other authors

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References

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  1. ^ Lee, Sungyup (2016). "Suzy Lee's Adventures in Picture book Land". Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature. 54 (4): 17–21. doi:10.1353/bkb.2016.0103. S2CID 152013416.
  2. ^ "Best Illustrated Children's Books 2008 – The New York Times > Books > Slide Show > Slide 7 of 11". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  3. ^ "The Society of Illustrators: 2008 Original Art Winners". www.societyillustrators.org. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  4. ^ "Shortlist for the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Awards". www.ibby.org. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Ga-young, Park (March 22, 2022). "Korean illustrator Suzy Lee wins prestigious Andersen Award". The Korea Herald. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  6. ^ "Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil". fnlij.org.br. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  7. ^ "Alice in Wonderland".
  8. ^ "Suzy Lee Books:: about Suzy Lee". www.suzyleebooks.com. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  9. ^ "vacance project – Home". sites.google.com. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  10. ^ "Suzy Lee Books :: Bookworks :: water". www.suzyleebooks.com. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  11. ^ "Suzy Lee's Animal World – Rabbits, Black Bird and The Zoo". Archived from the original on April 18, 2011.
  12. ^ ""The Border Trilogy" EXHIBITION OPENING at MAMBO". Archived from the original on March 12, 2012.
  13. ^ ""The Border Trilogy" EXHIBITION and Workshop"". Archived from the original on March 17, 2012.
  14. ^ Cavna, Michael (September 19, 2013). "National Book Festival 2013: Poster creator Suzy Lee wanted to reflect 'everything you can do with books'". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  15. ^ "2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Awards for Picture Book Honor". Archived from the original on May 31, 2013.
  16. ^ "2019 the 60th Korean Publishing Culture Awards". hankookilbo. December 27, 2019.
  17. ^ "IBBY Honour List 2020" (PDF). IBBY.
  18. ^ "Suzy Lee Books :: Bookworks :: River, the Black Dog". www.suzyleebooks.com. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  19. ^ "Hintoki Press (@hintokipress)". www.instagram.com. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  20. ^ "Suzy Lee Books :: News & Miscellanies".
  21. ^ Kwon, Mee-yoo (December 16, 2011). "Suzy Lee explores beyond borders in books". The Korea Times.
  22. ^ Lee, Suzy. "Open This Little Book: Illustrator Suzy Lee's 2013 BGHB Picture Book Honor Speech". The Horn Book. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013.
  23. ^ "Lines". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on September 5, 2017.
  24. ^ Lee, Suzy (2010). Shadow. Internet Archive. San Francisco : Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-7280-5.
  25. ^ "Shadow". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010.
  26. ^ Lee, Suzy (2007). The Zoo. Kane/Miller. ISBN 978-19-336052-8-9.
  27. ^ "Mirror". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on May 1, 2010.
  28. ^ Lee, Suzy (2002). Alice in Wonderland. Corraini. ISBN 978-88-87942-27-9.
  29. ^ "My Books". www.patzietlowmiller.com. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  30. ^ "The Yulu Linen". frankfurtrights.com. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  31. ^ "Dream of Becoming Water_Lucid Fall and Suzy Lee". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  32. ^ "This Beautiful Day". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017.
  33. ^ Jackson, Richard (August 2017). This Beautiful Day. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781481441391. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
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