Author and illustrator Julia Kuo discusses her picture book Luminous: Living Things That Light Up the Night, which won the 2024 Floyd’s Pick Book Award. She shines a light on bioluminescence, the mysteries of the open ocean, squids and glowworms and jellyfish, illustration career paths, her journey to becoming an author, and the art of making our own light.

Julia Kuo is the author and illustrator of Let’s Do Everything and Nothing and Luminous. She is the illustrator of many picture and specialty books, including The Next Scientist, When Love Is More Than Words, and the bestselling Rise. Julia has created editorial illustrations for publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. She has taught at Columbia College Chicago and at her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. Julia has been an artist-in-residence twice at the Banff Centre for the Arts and a 2019-2021 fellow with the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email [email protected] (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.