Aining Wen
Author and illustrator
Representation: Literary Agents
Aining Wen is a picture book author, illustrator and editor, graduated from the Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. She is passionate about creating multimedia picture books by combining storytelling, illustration, composition, and animation. Since 2014, she has published more than 20 picture books, including "Music Forest", "Fairy Song", and "After Silence", among others. She has also published illustrated collection books such as "Drawing in Cambridge" and “How to make Picture Books?”. Furthermore, she translated the theoretical monograph "Creating Children's Picture Books: The Art of Visual Storytelling". Her works have been translated into Chinese, English, Spanish, Thai, French and Korean, and have been distributed globally.
Recognitions include the finalist list at the 2021 Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators' Exhibition, the UK iJUNGLE International Illustration Award, the 2022 Apila International Picture Book Award in Spain, the 2020 "Premio Illustrazione Portogallo" (Portuguese Illustrators' Award), and the Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award. In 2021, She was listed on Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia list for her outstanding achievements.
Featured Work
The Little Music Forest
This series comprises nine picture books for young children, integrating text, music, and illustrations to engage readers' auditory, visual, and imaginative gustatory senses. Through whimsical fairy tales, these books introduce young readers to the fundamental knowledge, tonal characteristics, and playing techniques of the most representative instruments in the symphony family—such as the violin, bass drum, trumpet, and flute—as well as instruments from the traditional Chinese music realm, including the bamboo flute, guzheng, pipa, and xun. The creators aim to break down the barriers between words, images, and music, fostering a multisensory environment that enables children to explore both Western and Eastern music, learn to appreciate it, and develop a love for it.
Each of the nine books is accompanied by meticulously crafted original musical compositions, composed, arranged, recorded, and mixed by professionals, with thirty children participating in the story narration. These nine musical pieces resemble nine independent stage dramas, featuring exquisite background music, expressive storytelling, well-timed instrumental solos, and a blend of various sound effects. Listeners will feel as if they are immersed in a musical mini-forest, performing alongside the animals!