Uija is a Korean picture-book author and illustrator whose work grew from years of artistic study and life abroad. While living in New York in 2016, Uija participated in a picture-book project organized by Our Golden Hour, and in 2020 completed a master’s degree in Children’s Literature and Children’s Book Illustration at Goldsmiths, University of London. Works include The Farmer of the Desert, Face, and the Louis the Cat series, as well as an illustrated essay about living abroad. The Farmer of the Desert draws on the creator’s own experiences of uncertainty, persistence, and starting again, turning personal struggle into a spare visual parable about hope.