Children 's picture books illustrator & author

Circle, Lok Ling Yuen

Circle Yuen (She/her) is an author and illustrator based in the UK, originally from Hong Kong, and a dedicated 'Own Voice' creator. Drawing on her personal journey of family restructuring and co-parenting, she creates emotionally rich and healing picture books for children, using art to champion social justice and empathy.

Her debut picture book, Our Dance: Living Apart, Time Together (published by Graffeg), is a pioneering title that introduces the concept of child contact centres—a project created in collaboration with the National Association of Child Contact Centres.

Her commitment to powerful storytelling has been widely recognised: her project The Hiding Kite: A Story of a Family Storm was a Bologna Illustrators Exhibition Finalist, and she was honoured with the FAB Prize-Publisher's Prize Art Winner award.

Circle is currently based in Nottingham, where she works from her home studio. Looking ahead, she is also creating another picture book exploring themes of family restructuring, set to be published in 2026.

SELECTED AWARD/EXHIBITION

Illustrators' Exhibition, Bologna Children's Bookfair - Finalist / 2024

The FAB prize - Publisher’s Prize Art Winner / 2024

Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition - Finalist / 2024

《The NAE OPEN 2024》 (Group) UK / 2024

Unpublished Picture book Showcase 3 - Longlisted (EU) / 2021

INTERVIEWS/PRESS

Interview: 2025.6.10 Resonate

Circle Yuen’s ‘Our Dance’: A Picture Book Addressing Family Change for UK Kids

Interview:2021. 9.19 Sunday Mingpao

Interview: 2021.8.18 Hong Kong Economic Times

Interview: 2020.3.8 South China Morning Post, The Week in Asia Interview