Author Bio

Full Author-Illustrator 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.

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Before becoming a picture-book maker, she spent over a decade working in gender-based violence prevention and community arts. This experience continues to inform her practice, particularly her interest in the emotional lives of children and the moments that can be difficult to put into words.

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She holds an MA in Children's book illustration from 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 explores how images can hold feeling while leaving space for readers’ own interpretations.

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

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

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She is currently developing new picture-book projects exploring family, change and belonging, with a particular interest in how picture books can move beyond the page and into children’s everyday lives.