Meet the author

Adriena Fong.

Writer & illustrator · United Kingdom

Adriena Fong: author-illustrator whose folklore-steeped debut Ning and the Night Spirits turns a story about facing your fears into something luminous and gentle.

Adriena Fong is an author-illustrator whose luminous, atmospheric artwork draws on East and South-East Asian folklore, mythical creatures and festival imagery. Her debut picture book, Ning and the Night Spirits, published by Flying Eye Books, follows a shy boy in a village where families light orange lanterns each night to keep the feared night spirits away. When Ning ventures into the forest alone and meets a curious creature, he discovers the spirits are nothing like the fearful stories, and that rumour can make monsters of the misunderstood. Told in a gentle, folktale-flavoured voice and paired with softly glowing illustrations, it is a tender meditation on courage, curiosity and questioning what we are told to fear. A quietly beautiful debut for sharing with children aged three to seven.