Welcome to
“Uyen” is pronounced win.
It’s short for LeUyen Pham, the elusive artist whose name no one can pronounce. Uyen makes art. Lots of and lots of it. If you want to see some more of it, keep scrolling…
Gallery
Uyen paints and draws everyday, and has done so for nearly every day of her life. And she’s pretty old. So that means she has a LOT of art out there. Click below if you’d like to see some…
Travel Sketches
Uyen will drop anything to travel. She has been all over the world and usually forces her family to come with her. She has gotten lost in Africa near the Zambezi River. She has climbed the ruins of Angkor Wat. She has climbed the Great Wall of China and swam near the Great Barrier Reef. She hasn’t gotten to Antarctica and South America yet but she’s working on it. And of course, everywhere she goes, she sketches. Just click on a land to see her drawings.
Books
Uyen has sold millions of books. Yup, MILLIONS. She’s illustrated well over one hundred books for kids, and YES she’s still alive. She’s won a few awards, INCLUDING the 2020 Caldecott Honor. She’s been a New York Times, Indies, and USA Today bestseller. Here are some of her titles:
BOARD BOOKS
- Boy of Mine, by Jabari Asim
- Girl of Mine, by Jabari Asim
- Whose Knees are These? by Jabari Asim
- Whose Toes are Those? by Jabari Asim
- Pat-a-Cake, by Mary Bridgid Barrett
- All Fall Down, by Mary Brigid Barrett
PICTURE BOOKS
- Badger Series, by Eve Bunting
- One Little Mouse, by Dori Chaconas
- Before I Was Your Mother, by Kathryn Lasky
- Piggies in a Polka, by Kathi Appelt
- Sing-Along Song, by Joanne Macken
- Twenty-One Elephants, by Phil Bildner
- Sweet Briar series, by Karma Wilson
- Once Around the Sun, by Bobbi Katz
- A Father Like That, by Charlotte Zolotow
- A Winter’s Tale, by Shakespeare and Bruce Coville
- Freckleface Strawberry series, by Julianne Moore
- Grace For President, by Kelly DiPuccio
- God’s Dream, by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
- Bedtime For Mommy, by Amy Krause Rosenthal
- Aunt Mary’s Rose, by Douglas Wood
- Shoe-la-la, by Karen Beaumont
- Hats Off To You, by Karen Beaumont
- Best Birthday Party Ever, Jennifer LaRue
- A Stick Is An Excellent Thing, by Marilyn Singer
- Vampirina Ballerina series, by Anne-Marie Pace
- The Boy Who Loved Math, by Deborah Heiligman
- Mama Seeton’s Whistle, by Jerry Spinelli
- Hillary Rodham Clinton, by Michelle Markel
- Falling Water, by Marc Harshman
- Sheep 101, by Richard Morris
- Best Friends in the Universe, by Stephanie Watson
- Stop That Yawn, by Caron Levis
- Bear Came Along, by Richard Morris
- Grace Goes To Washington, by Kelly DiPucchio
SELF-AUTHORED
- Big Sister, Little Sister, Hyperion Books
- All The Things I Love About You, HarperCollins
- There’s No Such Thing As Little, Random House
- A Piece of Cake, HarperCollins
- Twelve Days of Christmas, Doubleday
- The Bear Who Wasn’t There, Roaring Brook
- Piggy & Elephant Present: The Itchy Book, Hyperion
COMPILATIONS
- Free to Be… You and Me, Running Press Kids
- Manners Mash Up, Dial Books
- Children of God Storybook, by Desmond Tutu
- America the Beautiful, Scholastic Books
- Shaking Things Up, HarperCollins
- Sketchtravel, Publication Chȇne
CHAPTER BOOKS
- The Akimbo Series, by Alexander McCall Smith
- Alvin Ho series, by Lenore Look
- Any Which Wall, by Laurel Snyder
- Bo At Ballard Creek, by Kirkpatrick Hill
- Bo At Iditarod Creek, by Kirkpatrick Hill
- Isabella For Real, by Margie Palatini
- The Becket List, by Adele Griffin
- The Princess In Black series, by Shannon and Dean Hale
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Characters
You’d never know it to look at her, but Uyen is pretty good at designing characters. Some of these characters have been made into TV shows. Some of these characters have been made into musicals. And still others have been part of a bestselling series. And all them came from the imagination of Uyen. Select some characters below to find out more about them…
Alvin Ho
Princess in Black
Freckleface Strawberry
Friends Series
The Akimbo Series
Grace
Vampirina
About the Artist
Uyen doesn’t care to share too much about herself. So here are the facts she feels are most important to know:
HOW TO PRONOUNCE LEUYEN. It sounds like Le Win. Or just Win. Sometimes even Winnie.
UYEN HAS: gotten lost in Africa (alone!), seen the Pope in person three times, ridden an elephant, swam with dolphins, been given an Erdos number of 1.5, created over 100 books for kids (yes, that’s right), worked with a Nobel Peace Prize winner, an Academy Award winner, G.W. Peck, That Girl, and a Beatle.
UYEN CAN: remove pits from cherries, bake tarts, draw monkeys, eat sushi, dance in her bathrobe when no one is looking, put her foot in her mouth (figuratively and literally), make Christmas cookies, count to ten in five languages
UYEN CAN’T: tread water, cook chicken, rub her eyes without making a face, say “no” when someone asks her a favor, pronounce the word “ladle”, take a serious picture, whistle
UYEN WOULD RATHER YOU NOT KNOW THIS, BUT OH WELL: she has cold feet all the time, falls asleep before the end of every movie, doesn’t like the bottom of her feet, OR the bump on her right middle finger, OR her belly button.
OH, and Uyen is very, very VERY difficult to draw.
Other than that, Uyen makes art in Los Angeles, California, with her amazingly talented artist husband Alexandre Puvilland, their ridiculously wonderful two sons Gilbert and Sullivan (just kidding, we’re not giving your their names, thank you very much). Wait, they have a cat too, named Sardine, and a gecko named Kumquat. Or is the other way around?
Contact
Uyen is not good on the phone. She’s even worse on email. If you can find her, she’s great to have coffee with. Overall, though, I’d recommend contacting her agent, who is much more likely to get back to you.
If you’ve got a manuscript, contact …
Holly McGhee at Pippin Properties
If you want Uyen to speak at your school, contact… The Author Village
If you only have nice things to say to Uyen and aren’t really expecting a response, contact…
well, just click here, I guess.
**SOMETIMES she Instagrams and Facebooks, but don’t quote me on that.
Thanks for visiting!
