When Graci Kim was young, she felt like a side character in her own life. 40 years on and Graci is now a New York Times Bestselling author, as well as most recently the 2026 winner of the Junior Fiction award at the NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adult.

In this episode, Graci shares how a belief that she would die young led her to live the fullest life possible, which included running away with the circus at 16, and becoming a New Zealand diplomat.

The belief she held was reinforced by odd occurrences such as unexplained fainting spells, the need for emergency eye surgery which left her temporarily sightless, and a traumatic event at the age of 27 (the number that happened to have been in Graci's head, in which she believed that this life would come to a close), where she narrowly survived a traumatic accident involving a concrete truck.

This all led Graci to take charge of her life and become the hero of her own story. And it sparked her desire to write books around Korean mythology, that she would have wanted to read as a child.

Graci shares her persistence to publication through harsh rejections, major rewrites, until the eventual success of The Last Fallen Star through Rick Riordan Presents. She discusses her New York Times list moment via Barnes & Noble’s Young Reader pick and how she sent her face overseas to create buzz. She also shares about her latest Slinger duology, how she built the world and how she has drawn from Korean philosophy. Graci touches on the influence motherhood has had on her writing, and how it has encouraged her to slow down.

Following this, Graci shares her current reads, and shares her shout-outs to the team at Penguin Random House NZ, Book Hero, and her readers.

LINKS:

Graci Kim Website - gracikim.com

Graci Kim on Instagram - @gracikimwrites

The Last Fallen Star - first book in the Gifted Clans series

Dreamslinger - first book in the Slinger duology

Mixed - Picture Book by Arree Chung

Magic Candies - Picture Book by Heena Baek

Book Hero NZ

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Find out more about The KidLit Pod host, Shara Curlett, here:

Shara Curlett on Instagram (@sharacurlett)

Shara Curlett Website (www.sharacurlett.com)