Whether it's Squid Game or KPop Demon Hunters, the world seems to be obsessed right now with all things Korean. Of course, for bestselling Korean-Kiwi author and AWC graduate Graci Kim, trends had nothing to do with her choice to mix stories from childhood with fantasy in her latest novel, Dreamslinger – published by Allen & Unwin.
In fact, Graci has carved her own path both before and after becoming a New York Times bestselling author. (You can hear more in her interview in Episode 680 of the So You Want to be a Writer podcast.) Graci’s debut middle-grade novel, The Last Fallen Star, was published in 2021 and she went on to release two more books to complete the trilogy – The Last Fallen Moon and The Last Fallen Realm respectively. All three books were published by Disney Hyperion (Rick Riordan Presents) and the trilogy has been optioned by the Disney Channel for a live action television series.
It's been a busy few years and she has no plans to slow down!
Connecting with storytelling
The New Zealand-based author did a mix of things before turning her hand to writing, including working as a foreign diplomat, hosting a cooking show and even making kids' toys. And while being a diplomat in a foreign country might seem a long way from an author, Graci begs to differ.
“I think traveling allows you to do two things. One is to see how people are different – all equally valid. And also to realise that we are a lot more alike than we think. The things that make us human are so universal. Interestingly, I feel like that's also what makes writing so interesting because they say there's only about 10 different stories or 10 different lessons that people learn in stories.”
That said, it was only when Graci sat down to reread her favourite childhood novels that she discovered both her passion and a personal mission.
“It hit me – none of the books I read and treasured as a child had people like me in them. All the books I’d loved were about white people. I had been invisible on the page my whole life,” Graci says. So she signed up for a course at the Australian Writers' Centre and started writing books about Korean kids having magical adventures.
Finding a writing community
Graci had just returned home to New Zealand after a decade abroad when she started her writing journey.
“I realised I needed to write. I needed to write to fill the gap, so that Asian (and specifically Korean) diaspora kids who looked like me could see themselves alive and thriving on the page – seeking magic, going on adventures, and being the heroines of their stories,” Graci says. “I needed to write because we had a voice too; and that our stories also held value that demanded to be shared with all people.”
But first she had to learn how to write! As a longtime listener of the So you want to be a writer podcast, Graci had heard of the AWC’s courses. She enrolled in Advanced Fiction Writing Techniques (now called Novel Writing Essentials) and started on her writing path.
“The most useful part of the course was the community with whom I got to share the learning journey,” Graci says. “A small group of us stayed in touch following the course, and became critique partners for one another. At the early stages when the obstacles to writing were greater than the milestones, having a community of fellow writers was invaluable, and probably one of the main reasons I didn’t throw in the towel!”
From Tweet to publication
Graci’s first manuscript was a YA contemporary novel with speculative elements, which she used to query agents. Although she wasn’t successful with that manuscript, she learned a lot about the publishing industry. She then started on a new manuscript and pitched it in a Twitter contest for historically marginalised writers. Her pitch tweet was a huge success, garnering 200 likes from people in the publishing industry.
“From there, I made a shortlist of agents from that group to query with my new manuscript. Three weeks later, following a partial Revise & Resubmit request, I ended up signing with Carrie Pestritto from Laura Dail Literary Agency [based in New York],” Graci says.
Working with Carrie, Graci started submitting her manuscript to various publishers before it was picked up by Rick Riordan Presents, Disney Hyperion. It was an extraordinary moment for Graci, who was having a prenatal appointment at the time!
“I had just gotten my blood taken that day, and was already feeling a little faint. But then to be lying on a clinic bed getting a 12-week scan on my pregnant belly when the message came through that my manuscript was going to be a real book… and one edited and presented by Rick Riordan no less… What can I say? It was a rather emotional moment!!”
The Percy Jackson author is glowing in his praise. “Graci Kim does such an amazing job of blending Korean mythology into the modern world, I am now wondering how I ever lived without knowing all this cool information,” Rick Riordan says of Graci’s debut. He even appeared at one of her launch events in Houston, Texas.
The Last Fallen Star is a mythology-inspired middle grade adventure about Korean witches in LA, forbidden spells and one adopted girl – Riley Oh – and her search for belonging. It is the first in the Gifted Clans trilogy, with second book The Last Fallen Moon continuing Riley's adventure as she comes to terms with her new role and gathers a squad to face new challenges. In the final instalment, The Last Fallen Realm (released in 2023), the witches of the world prepare for war, but something bigger and stranger lures Riley – with the fate of the world in her hands!
Graci is quick to point out how valuable her AWC course was in her journey to date. “Doing the course, learning the tools, and having an experienced teacher guide me through the foundations made me realise that despite there being a mountain ahead of me, it was one I could navigate if I just put in the work,” Graci says. “It made me realise my dreams were perhaps not as impossible as I once had thought.”
‘Dreamslinger' and world building
With a trilogy that showcased Korean kids now behind her, in 2025 Graci turned her attention to her new book, Dreamslinger (published by Allen & Unwin) and a very different setting.
“Dreamslinger is set in this alternate world instead of this one,” Graci explains. “There's a country called the Kingdom of Royal Hung and it's a fictional country within a real island in Seoul. It's this own sovereign nation and playing with how deep I can make this world was so much fun.
“For me, I had to have the world first. That's the part where you just create the rules, change them up, shake them up and see how it falls. I love doing that. I spent a lot of time just dreaming up the world and everything else comes later. So I create the features of the world and then I ask myself what would be a compelling way to explore this world. Some do it the other way round, but this works for me.”
Graci also enjoys creating other aspects of the world, including character cards, maps, and even sheet music. “ I love is trying to find ways to make the book reach and resonate with new and different audiences. I love Pokemon and there are these little creatures in the book that kind of harp back to this love I have of catching and collecting creatures.”
As for what's next, Graci reports that a second book will follow in this series. As for after that, who knows? Perhaps another diplomat position or cooking show!
Courses taken at AWC:
- Advanced Fiction Writing Techniques (Novel Writing Essentials)
