Graci Kim

Graci Kim is the author of the Gifted Clans Trilogy, and lives in Tāmaki Makaurau with her husband and daughter. She was born in Seoul, South Korea, and her family emigrated to Aotearoa when she was a child. She first studied at the University of Auckland, graduating with a BA(Hons) First Class in Spanish & Latin American studies. She then went on to study at Universidad de Salamanca in Spain.

Before settling in Tāmaki Makaurau, Graci has lived in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, South Korea, Taiwan, Spain and Beijing.

Graci began writing to create characters like herself, which she felt was lacking in the books she read when growing up. Her book trilogy is set in Los Angeles, where there is a large Korean community, and is heavily inspired by the Korean mythology that she was taught as a child.

Graci was published by Disney-Hyperion and was subsequently signed under Rick Riordan’s imprint, Rick Riordan Presents. The Last Fallen Star (2021) became an instant US bestseller. It was named Indigo Book of the Year 2021, Amazon Editor’s Best Book, Ages 9-12, 2021, and Barnes & Noble Young Reader Pick 2021. It was also nominated for the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Children’s Book and named in the Whitcoulls Kids Top 50 List 2022.

The Last Fallen Moon was published in 2022, and The Last Fallen Realm completed the trilogy in 2023. The Gifted Clans Trilogy has been translated into multiple languages, and has been optioned by Disney Channel for a television show.

Graci has also contributed to The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities (2021), an anthology curated by Rick Riordan.

In 2022, Graci won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent.

Graci initially published under the anglicised pseudonym of Graci Goldhart. She felt that her Korean surname would be a disadvantage to the marketing of the book. She has since delivered a TED Talk on why she eventually reclaimed her own Korean name and has continued to publish her work as Graci Kim.