| Sunny Seki | |
| Birth Place: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Artist, Author, Illustrator, Photographer, Puppeteer |
Sunny Seki is a Japanese–American author, illustrator, and photographer based in Los Angeles, California. He was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, before moving to the United States at age 24. Seki is well known for his cross-cultural bilingual children's books, with a focus on Japanese folktales.
Seki received his bachelor's degree in photography from Nihon University and also attended Kuwasawa Design School, and Pasadena's Art Center College of Design. He holds a Black Belt in the Japanese martial art of Aikido.[1]
From 1979 to 2006 Seki and his wife operated a photography studio in Rosemead, California. Called Sunny Seki Photography, it specialized in portraits, weddings, and restoring old photographs. Seki received several awards for his photography as listed below:
Seki's first book, The Tale of the Lucky Cat, was published by East West Discovery Press. This book received two distinct awards: The "NAPPA Honors" National Parenting Publications Honor Award in 2007, and in 2009 the Creative Child Magazine "Preferred Choice" Award.
Seki's second book, The Last Kappa of Old Japan, A Magical Journey of Two Friends was published by Tuttle Publishing.
Seki's third book, Yuko-Chan and the Daruma Doll was released in February 2012, and it is a story about the adventures of a blind Japanese girl who saves her village. This book is bilingual, printed with both Japanese and English text. Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll received the "2012 Book of the Year" award for storybooks on learning foreign cultures, sponsored by Creative Child Magazine,[2] a national bi-monthly publication. Seki’s book was also chosen for the "2012 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set", which sends a set of four books to schools and libraries around the world. In 2016 Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll was presented in a choreographed production by Valley Dance Ensemble in Logan, Utah. Also in 2016, this book was chosen by Early Childhood Education Degrees[3] as one of the 50 Best Books on Special Education. It was also named by Perkins School for the Blind as one of the 25+ Children's Books Featuring Visually Impaired Characters.[4]
Seki is a former member of the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry, where he learned to retell Japanese folktales in the form of shadow puppetry.[5]
Seki is a coordinator and writer of Japanese poetry called Senryu, and his poems are often featured in the Japanese newspaper called The Rafu Shimpo and Discover Nikkei. As an illustrator, Sunny's artwork has been featured on the front page of The Rafu Shimpo New Year's Edition since 2012. In 2007 Seki wrote Gardeners' Pioneer Story, a compilation of gardeners' poems and historical commentary, and this work was recognized and honored by the Southern California Gardeners Federation. Seki is the teacher/director of Los Angeles-based Rasshin Senryu group.[6]