avg_rating: 4.19
name: Chieri Uegaki
about: Chieri Uegaki is a second-generation Japanese-Canadian who was born in Quesnel, British Columbia. By the age of one, she and her parents had moved to East Vancouver, where she and her two sisters grew up.Chieri attended Sir John Franklin Elementary School. Initially, she had to take English as a Second Language classes as she spoke mostly Japanese at home. An excellent ESL teacher and an inherited love of books helped develop Chieri's skills quickly, and language arts became one of her favorite subjects.Chieri then went to Templeton Senior Secondary. As she neared graduation, she was thrilled to discover that the University of British Columbia offered a degree in Creative Writing. She submitted a portfolio of writing samples and was accepte Chieri Uegaki is a second-generation Japanese-Canadian who was born in Quesnel, British Columbia. By the age of one, she and her parents had moved to East Vancouver, where she and her two sisters grew up.Chieri attended Sir John Franklin Elementary School. Initially, she had to take English as a Second Language classes as she spoke mostly Japanese at home. An excellent ESL teacher and an inherited love of books helped develop Chieri's skills quickly, and language arts became one of her favorite subjects.Chieri then went to Templeton Senior Secondary. As she neared graduation, she was thrilled to discover that the University of British Columbia offered a degree in Creative Writing. She submitted a portfolio of writing samples and was accepted into the program.Chieri's first picture book, Suki's Kimono, was a result of losing two children's writing competitions. She took a story she'd written at UBC almost a decade earlier, rewrote it as a picture book and submitted it. After being shortlisted in that first competition, Chieri honed the story even more and entered a second competition.Again, Suki's Kimono did not win. And, again, the story was shortlisted. But this time, the shortlisted titles were passed on to several Canadian publishers. Two publishers requested a copy of Chieri's manuscript, and Kids Can Press came back with an offer to publish.Suki's Kimono, illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch, was released in 2003. Chieri enjoyed working on the picture book so much that she decided to continue writing for children.Rosie and Buttercup was published by Kids Can Press in 2008. Chieri has also written stories for Chirp and chickaDEE magazines as well as for Pearson Education.Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin is Chieri's third picture book.Chieri lives on the Sunshine Coast with her husband and two dogs, Nika and Rosie.—from the publisher's website at http://www.kidscanpress.com/creators/... ...more