Renowned Children's Book Illustrator/Poet Kam Mak to Visit RGA's Lower School!!

Well-known children's book illustrator/poet Kam Mak will visit the Ross Global lower school next Monday, March 19, at 10:30 AM. He will read from and discuss his most recent book, My Chinatown: A Year in Poems. Kam Mak was born in Hong Kong. His family moved to the United States in 1971 and settled in New York City. His interest in painting was awakened through involvement with City Art Workshop, an organization which enables inner-city youths to explore the arts. Mr. Mak continued to pursue his interest in painting while attending the School of Visual Arts, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1984 through a four-year full scholarship.

His paintings for "My Chinatown" are currently on view at the Children's Museum of the Arts' exhibition, "Images of Identity." This exhibition, also featuring the works of Nina Crews ("One Hot Summer Day") and Nathaniel Quinn and La Shell Wooten ("The Sharing Secret"), celebrates the three artists' unique visions of heritage, culture, neighborhood, and identity.

Mr. Mak‘s works also have been exhibited at the Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibition and The Original Show (dedicated to the best of children's picture books). His paintings have appeared in numerous publications. "My Chinatown: One Year in Poems" is about a little boy growing up in Chinatown, and has received starred reviews from Kirkus and was a Parents' Choice 2002 Recommended Award Winner by the Parents’ Choice Foundation. "The Dragon Prince," published by HarperCollins, won him the Oppenheim Platinum Medal for the Best Children’s Picture Book of 1997, and the National Parenting Publication Gold Metal for the Best Children's Picture Book of 1997. Mr. Mak was awarded this year with a Gold Medal for the cover art to "The Kite Rider" and Silver Medals for the cover art to "My Chinatown" from the Society of Illustrators 45th Annual Exhibition. He also this year won the Stevan Dohanos Award from the Society of The Illustrators (awarded to an artist in recognition of his or her artistic excellence). Mr. Mak is an assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology and is presently working on a series of paintings inspired by imageries of animals as food in Chinatown. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.