Debbi Kent

Debbi Kent has worn many hats in her career as a writer, editor, designer and photographer. Her love of all things** Korean goes back many years, beginning when she and her husband adopted two daughters, born several years apart in the South Korean city of Daegu. As someone who had long loved learning about other cultures, it was easy for her to immerse herself in her children’s heritage, making trips back and forth across the Pacific once or twice a year for the next 30 years to not only learn about the culture, but spearhead a volunteer effort to benefit the girls’ adoption agencies and adoptee support organizations. Always traveling with an extra empty suitcase, she did her best to support the Korean economy while she was there, in particular collecting the beautiful handicrafts she had fallen in love with. (She suspects her picture hangs on the United Airlines Wall of Shame.)

Fifteen years of collecting and learning led to the creation of her first book, “100 Thimbles in a Box: The Spirit and Beauty of Korean Handicrafts,” co-authored with fellow adoptive mom (and Wall of Shame member), Joan Suwalsky. It is Debbi’s photographs, taken during those many trips to Korea, that comprise most of the 500 photos in the book.

While writing “100 Thimbles” Debbi and Joan became captivated by the symbolic characters that appear in Korean art and folklore, and the idea for a collection of children’s picture books featuring those characters was born. Enlisting writer MaryJo Glover to join them, they published the first in the series entitled “I Bite the Bad Guys: A Tale of the Korean Tiger" in 2019, followed by “The Rooftop Revelers: A Tale of Korean Japsang” in 2024 with Yuleui Lee.

Debbi’s books are a reflection of her goal to share her love of Korea and its culture far and wide, especially with those to whom it may not be familiar. She has been invited to speak to arts organizations, school students, culture camps, chambers of commerce, and international groups in both the U.S. and Korea. In March 2012, she received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco for "outstanding dedication and commitment to promoting Korean culture for Korean adoptees and adoptive families."

** All things that is except kimchi. She’s trying, without much success. But then she always was a picky eater.