Yuka Koiwa is a self-taught artist originally from Japan. After earning her bachelor degree of Spanish Language at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, she moved to Mexico where she worked as a travel agent, graphic designer and kindergarten teacher. She moved to USA in 2013 with her husband and three kids.
Travelling between East and West cultures has challenged Yuka to accept and adapt to new cultural enviroments. Creating art is a way to build a bridge across cultural barriers and bring diverse people on a journey to an imaginary world.
Currently Yuka is working on two picture book dummies, "Winter Gift" and "Journey of Liberty". Yuka hopes her stories appeal to a culturally diverse audience and across generations, encouraging a love of reading in children and adults to find their inner child.
She is a member of SCBWI. When she's not writing and illustrating books for children, Yuka uses her artistic skills as instructor of art and craft at Golden Age senior care center in Woodland Park, NJ and is a Spanish-Japanese language translator over the phone.