Suzy Lee

{{Infobox writer

| name = Lee Suzy

| image = Suzy Lee (cropped).jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|February 9, 1974}}

| birth_place = Seoul, South Korea

| occupation = Illustrator, author

| genre = Children's literature, picture books, artists’ books

| language = Korean

| website = {{url|www.suzyleebooks.com}}

| notableworks = {{plainlist|

Mirror, Wave, Shadow
Open This Little Book, Lines

}}

Suzy Lee ({{langx|ko|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.{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Sungyup|date=2016|title=Suzy Lee's Adventures in Picture book Land|journal=Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature|volume=54|issue=4|pages=17–21|doi=10.1353/bkb.2016.0103|s2cid=152013416}} 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.{{Cite web|title=Best Illustrated Children's Books 2008 – The New York Times > Books > Slide Show > Slide 7 of 11|url=https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/06/books/20081109ILLUSTRATEDBOOKS_8.html|access-date=March 5, 2016|website=www.nytimes.com}} Wave was also awarded the gold medal for Original Art by the Society of Illustrators in 2008.{{Cite web|title=The Society of Illustrators: 2008 Original Art Winners|url=https://societyillustrators.org/the-original-art/|access-date=March 5, 2016|website=www.societyillustrators.org}} In 2016, Suzy Lee was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award,{{Cite web|title=Shortlist for the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Awards|url=https://www.ibby.org/subnavigation/archives/hans-christian-andersen-awards/2016|access-date=December 13, 2020|website=www.ibby.org}} regarded as the Nobel Prize for children's literature, an award which she received in 2022. Lee has received a number of other prestigious awards from around the world including the FNLIJ{{Cite web|title=Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil|url=https://www.fnlij.org.br/|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=fnlij.org.br}} 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.

Biography

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.{{Cite web|title=Alice in Wonderland|url=http://www.suzyleebooks.com/books/alice/#}} Since then, she has published over thirty books.{{Cite web|title=Suzy Lee Books:: about Suzy Lee|url=http://www.suzyleebooks.com/suzylee|access-date=March 6, 2016|website=www.suzyleebooks.com}} Lee organized projects such as the leader of the artist collective, Vacance Project,{{Cite web|title=vacance project – Home|url=https://sites.google.com/view/vacanceproject/home|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=sites.google.com|language=en-US}} and illustrating Dream of Becoming Water, a book interpretation of a song by the same title by Korean singer-songwriter Lucid Fall.{{Cite web|title=Suzy Lee Books :: Bookworks :: water|url=http://www.suzyleebooks.com/books/water/index.htm|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=www.suzyleebooks.com}}

Career

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."{{Cite web|title=Suzy Lee's Animal World – Rabbits, Black Bird and The Zoo|url=https://gatheringbooks.org/2011/04/18/suzy-lee%E2%80%99s-animal-world|url-status=live|archive-url=https://gatheringbooks.org/|archive-date=April 18, 2011}} 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,{{Cite web|title="The Border Trilogy" EXHIBITION OPENING at MAMBO|url=http://www.suzyleebooks.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=misc&page=2&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=171&PHPSESSID=ebc9daf9d92edfc0ae6106b8d360ce77|url-status=live|archive-url=http://www.suzyleebooks.com|archive-date=March 12, 2012}}{{Cite web|title="The Border Trilogy" EXHIBITION and Workshop"|url=http://1995-2015.undo.net/it/mostra/136051|url-status=live|archive-url=http://1995-2015.undo.net/|archive-date=March 17, 2012}} 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.{{cite news|last=Cavna|first=Michael|date=September 19, 2013|title=National Book Festival 2013: Poster creator Suzy Lee wanted to reflect 'everything you can do with books'|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/national-book-festival-2013-poster-creator-suzy-lee-wanted-to-reflect-everything-you-can-do-with-books/2013/09/19/fba7b6bc-20de-11e3-966c-9c4293c47ebe_blog.html|access-date=March 3, 2016}} Later in the same year, she was honored with the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Open This Little Book.{{Cite web|title=2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Awards for Picture Book Honor|url=https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=2013-boston-globe-horn-book-awards-for-excellence-in-childrens-literature|url-status=live|archive-url=https://www.hbook.com|archive-date=May 31, 2013}} 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.In 2019, she received the 60th Korean Publishing Culture Award{{cite news|date=December 27, 2019|title=2019 the 60th Korean Publishing Culture Awards|newspaper=hankookilbo|url=https://www.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/201912261433356872?did=NA&dtype=&dtypecode=&prnewsid=}} and selected for the IBBY Honour List for River,{{Cite web|title=IBBY Honour List 2020|url=https://www.ibby.org/fileadmin/user_upload/HL_2020.pdf|website=IBBY}} a book inspired by a personal story of her dog.{{Cite web|title=Suzy Lee Books :: Bookworks :: River, the Black Dog|url=http://www.suzyleebooks.com/books/River/index.htm|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=www.suzyleebooks.com}} She has founded Hintoki Press,{{Cite web|title=Hintoki Press (@hintokipress) |url=https://www.instagram.com/hintokipress/|access-date=December 14, 2020|website=www.instagram.com|language=en}} 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

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.{{Cite web|url=http://suzyleebooks.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=misc&page=5&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=70|title = Suzy Lee Books :: News & Miscellanies}} Suzy Lee's books often the relationship between fantasy and reality.{{Cite news|last=Kwon|first=Mee-yoo|date=December 16, 2011|title=Suzy Lee explores beyond borders in books|work=The Korea Times|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2011/12/142_100941.html}}

Awards

2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award Illustration{{Cite web |last=Ga-young |first=Park |date=2022-03-22 |title=Korean illustrator Suzy Lee wins prestigious Andersen Award |url=http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220322000695 |access-date=2022-03-28 |website=The Korea Herald |language=en}}
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{{Cite web|last=Lee|first=Suzy|title=Open This Little Book: Illustrator Suzy Lee's 2013 BGHB Picture Book Honor Speech|url=https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=open-little-book-illustrator-suzy-lees-2013-bghb-picture-book-honor-speech|url-status=live|archive-url=https://www.hbook.com|archive-date=December 13, 2013|website=The Horn 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

Works

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{{Cite web|title=Lines|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/suzy-lee/lines/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com|archive-date=September 5, 2017|website=Kirkus Reviews}} (Chronicle Books) {{ISBN|1452156654}}
2018 The Border Trilogy (Corraini Edizioni) {{ISBN|978-88-757071-6-3}}
2010 Shadow{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Suzy|url=http://archive.org/details/shadow0000lees|title=Shadow|date=2010|publisher=San Francisco : Chronicle Books|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-8118-7280-5}}{{Cite web|title=Shadow|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/suzy-lee/shadow-lee/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com|archive-date=October 1, 2010|website=Kirkus Reviews}}(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{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Suzy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glXQAFSxSy8C&q=suzy+lee|title=The Zoo|date=2007|publisher=Kane/Miller|isbn=978-19-336052-8-9|language=en}}(BIR Publishing Co.) {{ISBN|978-89-491-0047-0}}
2003 Mirror{{Cite web|title=Mirror|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/suzy-lee/mirror/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/|archive-date=May 1, 2010|website=Kirkus Reviews}} (Edizioni Corraini) {{ISBN|978-8-887942-40-8}}
2003 La Revanche des Lapins (La Joie de Lire) {{ISBN|978-2882582485}}
2002 Alice in Wonderland{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Suzy|url=https://corraini.com/en/alice-in-wonderland.html|title=Alice in Wonderland|date=2002|publisher=Corraini|isbn=978-88-87942-27-9|language=en}} (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 =

2022 See You Someday Soon{{Cite web |title=My Books |url=https://www.patzietlowmiller.com/my-books |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=www.patzietlowmiller.com |language=en}} with Pat Zietlow Miller (Roaring Brook Press) ISBN 9781250221100
2020 The Yulu Linen{{Cite web|title=The Yulu Linen|url=https://frankfurtrights.com/Books/Details/the-yulu-linen-18961579|access-date=December 15, 2020|website=frankfurtrights.com}}

with Cao Wenxuan (Bear Books) {{ISBN|979-11-583618-2-2}}

2020 Dream of Becoming Water{{Cite web|title=Dream of Becoming Water_Lucid Fall and Suzy Lee|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMF5Z8VryH8&feature=emb_logo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211218/jMF5Z8VryH8 |archive-date=2021-12-18 |url-status=live|access-date=December 15, 2020|website=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}} with Lucid Fall (Chungaram Media) {{ISBN|979-11-587113-1-3}}
2017 This Beautiful Day{{Cite web|title=This Beautiful Day|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/richard-jackson/this-beautiful-day/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com|archive-date=August 1, 2017|website=Kirkus Reviews}}{{Cite book|title=This Beautiful Day|url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/This-Beautiful-Day/Richard-Jackson/9781481441391|access-date=December 15, 2020|date=August 2017|isbn=9781481441391|language=en|last1=Jackson|first1=Richard|publisher=Simon and Schuster }} 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 Naked Painters with Moon Seung-Yeon (Chondung Books) {{ISBN|978-89-900250-9-8}}

References

External links

{{Portal|Children's literature|Visual arts

}}

{{official|http://www.suzyleebooks.com}}
[http://tokigool.egloos.com Personal Blog "curiouser and curiouser!" (egloos.com)]
[http://vod.kbs.co.kr/index.html?source=episode&sname=vod&stype=vod&program_code=T2020-0388&program_id=PS-2020111383-01-000&broadcast_complete_yn=&local_station_code=00§ion_code=05 “Picturebooks On a Roll”, Docu On, KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), October 30, 2020]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5zzjuVxaCA "The Real Reason Why I Want My Children to Love Books, Sebasi Talk, CBS TV, July 20, 2020]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M10YmgUTeTE&feature=youtu.be "Suzy Lee’s Lines Workshop”, Japan Women’s University, February 10, 2019]
[http://www.arirang.com/Tv2/TVCommon_NoStaff_Archive.asp?Prog_Code=TVCR0686&MENU_CODE=101704&view_seq=20350 “Between Reality and Fantasy – Picturebook Artist Lee Suzy,” Arts Avenue,”, Arirang TV, August 4, 2016 (9’25’’-15’54’’)]
[https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-6128 "Suzy Lee: 2013 National Book Festival,” National Book Festival, Library of Congress, September 22, 2013]
[http://www.suzyleebooks.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=misc&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=186Suzy "Grown-ups Read Picture Books: The Picture books of Suzy Lee,” C!talk Seoul, June 8, 2013]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfyzawzdDUE&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=Festivaletteratura "Between the Pages: Illustrated Books and Artists’ Books – A Talk with Suzy Lee,” Festivaletteratura, September 11, 2009]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kx_EnUPx1U&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=Festivaletteratura "A Wave of My Own,” Festivaletteratura, September 11, 2009]
[http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1410 "Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Suzy Lee," 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast, August 12, 2008]
[http://behindthebooks.gatheringbooks.org/?p=195 "Narrative of a Book Artist: Suzy Lee," Behind the Books]
[http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/cultrure/book/968942.html “Picture book Artists and Their power to Breakthrough: Suzy Lee," Saturday Special, The Hankyoreh, November 27, 2020]

Category:1974 births

Category:Living people

Category:Artists from Seoul

Category:Seoul National University alumni

Category:South Korean women children's book illustrators

Category:South Korean children's book illustrators

Category:Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration winners