Author Bio

Full Artist Bio

Circle Yuen is a UK-based author-illustrator originally from Hong Kong. She creates picture books that explore how children experience complex family transitions.

​

Before making books, she spent over a decade working in gender-based violence prevention and community arts, supporting families navigating difficult life transitions. This experience continues to shape her practice, which focuses on the emotional lives of children and the moments that often exist without language.

​

She trained at the Cambridge School of Art, where she developed an approach to picture book making that combines observational drawing, narrative structure, and visual metaphor. Her work is influenced by the idea of creating images that hold feeling without fixing meaning, allowing space for readers’ own interpretations.

​

Her debut picture book, Our Dance (Graffeg, 2025), explores parental separation and was longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize 2026. Developed in partnership with the National Association of Child Contact Centres, it is now used in contact centres, schools, and family support settings across the UK.

Her second book, Mama’s Wedding (Lantana Publishing, 2026), continues this work, exploring remarriage and belonging through a child’s perspective. She is also the illustrator of Oakie (Graffeg, 2026), written by Isla McGuckin.

​

She is currently developing a body of picture book work centred on family transitions, considering how books can move across different spaces — from publishing into lived environments such as classrooms, waiting rooms, and homes.