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Stories of Living Together from Korea and Australia

Lessons on environment and community from children’s books .

Apr 03, 2026
Headshots of the speakers

Stories of Living Together from Korea and Australia

When

Sunday 1 January 2023

Where

Korean Cultural Centre Australia (GF, Elizabeth Street, Sydney 2000)

Date: Tuesday, 19 May 2026 

Time: 

Conversation: 6:00pm-7:00pm 

Networking Event: 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Venue: Korean Cultural Centre Australia (GF, Elizabeth Street, Sydney 2000)

About the Event: Join five inspiring children’s authors from Korea and Australia for a special conversation on nature, animals, and the environment. 

Through their stories, the authors explore how children’s books can encourage curiosity, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the world we share. Discover how storytelling helps young readers connect with nature and learn the importance of living together in harmony. 

Korean-English consecutive interpretation will be provided. 

A networking event will follow the discussion. 

Register here  

Hyunmin Park

Hyunmin Park is a Seoul-based illustrator and picture book author whose work expands sensory perception through both books and exhibitions. Engaging with materiality, visual language, and spatial experience, he creates immersive environments that invite audiences to reconsider how images are seen, felt, and interpreted.

He has received international recognition, including the Grand Prize (Fiction) at the Korea Picture Book Award and the Opera Prima Special Mention at the Bologna Ragazzi Award. His work such as So Much Snow and City Flight have been featured at major platforms such as the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

Through a combination of diverse exhibitions and ongoing publications, Park continues to engage with audiences, exploring new ways of communication across visual and narrative forms.

Kyung Hye-won

Kyung Hye-won is a South Korean picture book author and illustrator. Her representative works include Elevator, Dinosaur X-Ray, Bigger Than You, I’m a Lioness, and My Big, Secret Friend. Kyung has worked as an illustrator since 2004, mainly providing illustrations for children's books. Since many of her picture books are dinosaur-themed, she is also known as a "dinosaur author" to children in Korea.

She has always been drawn to the beauty of Korean art, a passion that shines through her illustrations for many classic Korean folk tales. Even today, she prefers the texture of traditional Hanji paper and pigments. Her representative works, I Am a Lioness and The Elevator, were created using a meticulous Hanji collage technique, blending tradition with contemporary storytelling.

Lee Suyeon

Lee Suyeon studied Illustration at Camberwell College of Arts in the UK. She creates books that explore deep human emotions and offer comfort and healing.

She is the author and illustrator of When It Rains, the Grass Grows and Breakfast on the Moon.

Two Friends on My Shoulder was selected for the 2023 White Ravens, and I Sell Furniture Somehow was featured in the 2025 AFCC Illustrator Gallery. She received the 2025 Northern Festival of Illustration Prize for The Big House.

Susanne Gervay OAM

For creating picture books that enrich and entertain readers, Susanne Gervay OAM has been awarded the Lifetime Social Justice Literature Award for her books by the International Literacy Association, nominated for the Astrid Ingrid Memorial Award 2026 and awarded an Order of Australia for children’s literature. 

Her picture books range from pre-school to older readers as they tackle the great issues of our time from disability, refugees, multiculturalism, inclusion to peace. She seeks to engage young people in complex issues with humour and empathy. Professor of English, D. R . Pattanaik Banaras Hindu University Varanasi India’s writes that ‘Elephants Have Wings demonstrates with great power that we can teach our children profound truths and timeless values.’ 

Her picture books include Elephants Have Wings, The Boy with the Big Blue Glasses, Gracie and Josh, Ships in the Field, Who’s the Gang on our Street, Guess How I Was Born. As an ambassador for Room to Read, Patron of Monkey Baa Theatre, co-Regional Advisor of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, Australia East, literacy and reading ambassador picture books can inspire young people in their understanding of their world. sgervay.com

Antonia Pesenti

Antonia Pesenti is an architect, illustrator and visual storyteller.

She combines directing the multidisciplinary design practice studio fable with creating, designing and making books - exploring all formats from experimental zines through to award-winning picture books.

This event is presented by Arts Council Korea, Korean Cultural Centre Australia, and Creative Australia.

Logo Creative Australia

We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and honour their Elders past and present.

We respect their deep enduring connection to their lands, waterways and surrounding clan groups since time immemorial. We cherish the richness of First Nations Peoples’ artistic and cultural expressions.

We are privileged to gather on this Country and through this website to share knowledge, culture and art now, and with future generations.

First Nations Peoples should be aware that this website may contain images or names of people who have died.

Image alt text

We acknowledge the many Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and honour their Elders past and present.

We respect their deep enduring connection to their lands, waterways, and surrounding clan groups since time immemorial. We cherish the richness of First Nations peoples’ artistic and cultural expressions. We are privileged to gather on this Country and to share knowledge, culture and art, now and with future generations.

Art by Jordan Lovegrove