Juhea Kim was born in Incheon, Korea and moved to Portland, Oregon at age 9. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Art and Archaeology and a certificate in French. Her bestselling debut novel, Beasts of a Little Land, was named a finalist for the 2022 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, as well as a Best Book of 2021 by Real Simple, Harper's Bazaar, Ms., and Portland Monthly. It has been published in 13 countries to date and a TV series adaptation is currently in development.
Juhea's second novel, City of Night Birds, is forthcoming from Ecco in November 2024.

Her writing has been published in Granta, Slice, Zyzzyva, Catapult, Guernica, Shenandoah, Times Literary Supplement, Joyland, Sierra Magazine, The Independent, Portland Monthly, The Massachusetts Review, and Dispatches from Annares anthology, among others. Her translation of Yi Sang Award-winning author Choi In-Ho was published in Granta.

She is the founder and editor of Peaceful Dumpling, an online magazine covering sustainable lifestyle and ecological literature. She has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference and Regional Arts & Culture Council. She has given lectures and workshops at Arizona State University (a 2020 Desert Nights Rising Stars Fellow), Seoul National University, Yonsei University, the University of São Paulo, Seoul International Book Fair, and more. She is represented by Jody Kahn at Brandt & Hochman Literary Agency and United Talent Agency (film/TV).

In addition to writing fiction, Juhea also works with essays and narrative journalism focusing on the environment. She is donating a portion of the proceeds of Beasts of a Little Land to the Phoenix Fund, a Vladivostok-based conservation nonprofit working to protect the Siberian tiger and the Amur leopard. She lives in London and Portland, Oregon. Follow Juhea on Instagram @juhea_writes.

Profile photo © Bitna Chung