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Suffolk Author and Illustrator Kimberly Ellis is hoping to help other adoptees find meaning with her new children’s book, “Annyeong, Korea!”

In her third children’s book, set for release on Saturday, Sept. 21, Ellis tells a story about identity and searching for home – her own real-life story of reuniting with her birth family in South Korea and discovering her origins. In a Wednesday, Aug. 14 interview, Ellis took time to talk about her autobiographical children’s book and the life that inspired it. Ellis discussed how she was adopted at 10 months old.

“My mom and dad were in the military, so we traveled around a lot. But as most adoptees, you’re always questioning, ‘Where were my origins from?’ My mom and dad are White and so being Korean, I was always different,” Ellis said with a laugh. “And as a young child, I didn’t feel like I was different in a good way. So this is quite a book about identity and trying to find who do I look like.”

Discussing “Annyeong,” which means both “hello” and “goodbye” in Korean, Ellis notes that the book will also teach children and families different Korean words, such as “nabi (butterfly)” “kajok (family),” “omma (mom)” and more. Ellis hopes to share the beauty of Korean culture to young readers through clothing (a young Ellis wears a Hanbok on the cover, which also means “happy”), family relations and more.

“There’s a lot of differences between America and Korea, and so, learning about that has been interesting,” she said.

Ellis, who has also written and illustrated “Butterflies for Rory” and “Zach’s Family,” talked about how her life influenced her works and the empowerment that came through her experiences. She credits her success to living in different states and countries, having been raised by military parents. 

“That helped me to appreciate, I guess, the variety in the world. Because growing up with White parents…people would instantly know my story, but I didn’t always like that, because then they made definitions about me. I know one of the things that they would ask, they would ask me ‘Oh, does she speak English?’ Right in front of me. And that’s hard, because it just instantly makes you feel like an ‘other.’ And I think whenever you’re in the presence of people and you feel like an ‘other,’ you feel less than. And so then, that can define you,” Ellis said. “And so, being amongst military people and then finding my origins and finding out my story about why I was given away for adoption actually gave me a lot of meaning and insight and helped me in my identity to say that ‘You know what? I feel God had a purpose for all of this that happened. And it was a beautiful plan.’ And I am so thankful.”

Ellis also talked about how excited she was to see the rise of Korean pop culture in America as well, noting the inability to find Korean role models to look up to as a young girl.

“Right now, it’s really popular to watch K-Dramas and K-Pop and everything, which is really exciting! Because as a little girl, I didn’t have anyone to really identify with. There were not a lot of role models,” Ellis said. “And so now, at my age, I can look at people and say ‘Oh wow, I can learn different words.’ I can talk to people and say ‘Annyeong’ and people go, ‘Oh ok!’ They know what that means!”

Ellis continued.

“It’s really neat to have that to be something that’s common. And actually appreciated,” Ellis said. “As a young girl, I didn’t really see – and I didn’t myself – [the] value of that identity of being a Korean-American, a Korean-American adoptee, and now there are more people out there who can relate to the different words.”

Ellis says that she was blessed to reunite with her mother and birth family in South Korea, where they had a “really good” relationship over the past 20 years. Ellis detailed that her mother passed away earlier this year while she was writing the book. Ellis detailed sharing her last annyeong with her omma.

“I was able to go back to Korea in 2023 and hold her hand. And she talked to me,” she said. “The nice thing now is we have these cellphones and she could just talk and I could have the translator app and just hear what she was saying, which I could not do the first time I went there. So just to be in her presence, and she was so happy to see me, and to learn about my culture again 20 years later, it was just a full circle. And to have this book out and to relate our story and to give other people hope.”

On what she hopes readers will take away from the book, Ellis expressed the importance of adoptees seeking out their family and their identity.

“This says, ‘You can ask questions. You can grasp on to that identity,” Ellis said. “Even if you feel like you’re ‘faux,’ like you’re putting on an identity, like I am somebody else. Because I am American. But I am also Korean-American, and I can embrace all of that into who I am.”

Ellis will be doing a book tour for “Annyeong, Korea!” at the following events: 

• Book Signing and Hangeul/Cultural Presentation
  Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts
  2 to 4 p.m., Sat., Oct. 5
• Allonge Book Signing Cultural Presentation, and Dance Lesson
  Allonge Dance Studio
  7 to 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8
• Suffolk Public Library Book Signing
  “Annyeong, Korea! A Cultural Adventure with Author Kim Ellis”
  N. Suffolk Library
  10:30 a.m., Sat., Nov. 9

A portion of proceeds for each copy will go towards KAAN (Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network) to help adoptees and their families. To pre-order “Annyeong, Korea!,” go to amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.