Julia Kuo

Julia Kuo is a Taiwanese American author and illustrator whose picture books combine close observation with a strong visual sense of place. Luminous introduces young readers to bioluminescence through fireflies, fungi, glowworms, deep-sea fish, and other living things that produce light. Greystone Kids published it with the complete title Luminous: Living Things That Light Up the Night. Kuo wrote and illustrated the book, pairing a lyrical main narrative with concise scientific sidebars. The National Museum of Wildlife Art gave its illustrations the 2023 Bull-Bransom Award, and the Smithsonian included it among its ten best children’s books of 2022. Kuo has also written and illustrated Let’s Do Everything and Nothing and Home Is a Wish, while illustrating books by Livia Blackburne, Martha Brockenbrough, Grace Lin, and other writers.