Ellen Oh (née Ha) is a Korean-American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and founding member and CEO of the non-profit

We Need Diverse Books We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) is a nonprofit organization created to promote diversity of multiple forms in American children's literature and publishing, which grew out of the Twitter hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks in 2014. The organization's progr ...

. She is the author of young adult and middle grade novels including the Prophecy trilogy, also known as the Dragon King Chronicles, a series of fantasy,

young adult novels Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

based on Korean folklore.

Life and career

Oh grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, graduating with a legal degree. She began to write seriously after she had children, prompted by her struggle to find books that included representation for her kids. ''Prophecy'', the first book in Oh's young adult fantasy series, was published in January 2013. The series, known both as the Prophecy trilogy and the Dragon King Chronicles, draws from

Korean folklore Stories and practices that are considered part of Korean folklore go back several thousand years. These tales derive from a variety of origins, including Korean Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and more recently Christianity. Many folklore, fo ...

. In 2014, BookCon announced an all-white line-up for the event and hosted a children's book author panel consisting of all-white, all-male participants. In response, Ellen Oh and others in the industry created a

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

campaign under the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. The campaign, launched on May 1, 2014, gained 106 million Twitter impressions in the first 24 hours. The organization We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) was incorporated in the summer of 2014. For her work, Oh was named one of Publishers Weekly's Notable People in 2014. As of 2020, she is currently the president of WNDB. In 2016, Oh was a judge for the

National Book Awards The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

in the young people’s literature category. Oh's book, ''Spirit Hunters'', was started after her daughter was hospitalized due to depression. The first scene she wrote for the book was influenced by the hospital room and, according to Oh, based on "that feeling of depression and horror and sadness and fear that I was feeling and that I know my kid was feeling." The book follows a young child, Harper, and her family as they move into a seemingly haunted house. The story was influenced by

Korean Shamanism Korean shamanism, also known as () is a religion from Korea. Religious studies, Scholars of religion classify it as a folk religion and sometimes regard it as one facet of a broader Korean vernacular religion distinct from Buddhism, Taoism, Dao ...

, and was published in 2017. In 2020, Oh, Christina Soontornvat and Melanie Conklin created the Everywhere Book Fest, due to COVID-19 cancelling in-person book festivals. It was held online May 1 and 2, 2020, focusing on children's literature with 43,000 viewers attending.

Bibliography

*''The Dragon Egg Princess'' (2020) *''Finding Junie Kim'' (2021)

''Dragon King Chronicles'' series

* ''Prophecy'' (2013) *''Warrior'' (2013) *''King'' (2015)

''Spirit Hunters'' series

*''Spirit Hunters'' (2017) *''Spirit Hunters: The Island of Monsters'' (2018)

Short stories

*"The Last Day" in ''Diverse Energies'' (2012), edited by Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti *"Second Chances" in ''Behind the Song'' (2017), edited by K. M. Walton *"Everly’s Otherworldly Dilemma" in ''The Hero Next Door'' (2019), edited by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich *"Kodama's Ramen Shop" in ''Fresh Ink'' (2018) paperback version, edited by Lamar Giles *"Carp, Calculus and the Leap of Faith" in ''A Thousand Beginnings and Endings'' (2018) paperback version, edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman

Editor

*''Flying Lessons & Other Stories'' (2017) *''A Thousand Beginnings and Endings'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh, Ellen American writers of Korean descent American writers of young adult literature Non-profit executives American women founders Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New York University alumni Georgetown University alumni