Gold Medal Winner of the 2020 Key Colors US Illustrators Competition!
Amal is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in a household short on paints, but long on dyes made from boiled onion peel and parsley leaves. She owes her choice of becoming an artist to the city’s main library―a massive imaginary playground with texts, she was certain, would benefit from a little girl’s drawings. Amal’s work has appeared in children’s books, magazines, private collections and one museum. Her MFA is from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. She lives in the peculiar Village of Port Jefferson with her husband, daughter’s dog, and a thousand giant mushrooms.
Silver medal winner of the 2020 Key Colors US Illustrators Competition
Susie Oh spent her early years wrangling goats and chickens in rural South Korea before boarding a plane for a new life in New York. One of her first memories of the city was a pilgrimage to the iconic library on Fifth Avenue: guarded by two marble lions, it was a temple to books. Susie loved books before she knew a word of English; she loved the tactile rustling of pages, the rhythm of the spoken word, and most of all, she loved the art. Susie studied illustration in college while volunteering in the America Reads program. She now teaches English as a New Language. With her passion for art, storytelling, and teaching, Susie hopes to create books that help early readers develop their own communication skills.
Silver medal winner of the 2020 Key Colors US Illustrators Competition!
Emma Ward is a student in the Digital Media Program at the Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI. She’s delighted and fascinated by animals, and has a particular love for all things cold-blooded, which led to this, her first children’s book, and finalist in Clavis Publishing’s Key Colors Competition. Emma graduated in May of 2021, and is looking to have an impact in the movie and video game industry as a character designer. She pulls inspiration from the interesting shapes and behaviors of unusual wildlife, is fascinated by creature lore, and specializes in making creepy things lovable!
