Again, this year Yong was invited back to his Alma Mater to share his professional experience as an artist, graphic designer, illustrator and teacher, "Journey So Far". His positive attitute and passion inspired everyone ...

For the invitation from the Visual Art department of Lyndon State College in Vermont, Yong gave a lecture and presentation "The Creative Process of Children's Book Writing and Illustrating" to a crowd of faculty and students...

Lyndon State College hosted a one-person exhibition of Yong's original watercolor illustrations in the month of November 2010...

As part of the "A Smorgasbord of Children's Authors", Yong Chen presented in the New England Reading Association 62nd Annual Conference: Striving and Thriving, Journeying into Literacy. This year's conference took place at Crowne Plaza, Nashua, NH. In front of Yong are his two recent picture books: A Gift and Finding Joy...

In A Gift, family members in China create a Chinese New Year’s gift to send to their young niece, Amy, in the U.S. It’s the kind of book a family not unlike Chen’s might use to explain customs surrounding the New Year — which this year was Sunday, Feb. 14 — to generations raised in America...

Nashua artist Yong Chen expertly captures that beauty in a book titled just that, A Gift. The sparely written, lavishly illustrated book, published last September, tells the story of a young Chinese-American girl who receives a package from her relatives living on the other side of the world, in rural China. It's set during Chinese New Year, which this year happens to fall on Valentines Day...

Chinese New Year is a time for visiting relatives and Amy’s mother is missing loved ones who live “on the other side of the world.” Then a package arrives from China containing A Gift (Boyds Mills, 2009; K-Gr 2) for the young girl. In the accompanying letter, Aunt Mei describes how Uncle Zhong unearthed a beautiful stone while plowing his field, Uncle Ming polished and carved it until he released the dragon he saw hidden inside, and the siblings fashioned the piece into a necklace for their niece...

"A Gift", written and illustrated by Yong Chen is beautiful story of the importance of the family and the traditions we value.

Yong shared his passion and experience in children's book writing and illustration.

This full page interview covered the details of the past 46 years of Yong's artistic life, from the time he fell in love with drawing and painting, started pursuing his dream through his schools and college in China, and the latest 20 years advanture in the states as an artists and teacher. This interview use large pictures of the paintings from Yong's latest children's books: "Finding Joy" and "A Gift".

"Chen's text is spare, but, combined with his luscious watercolors, evokes a vivid portrait of rural Chinese culture. Children will find much to notice and discuss in the illustrations, both in the pictures of Amy's home ... and those of China. This is an uncomplicated introduction to the holiday and a lovely addition to most collections..."

"This is a lovely story about families and cultures staying in touch. Wonderful for lower elementary grades..."

"The story succeeds in evoking the importance of meaningful family relationships, especially over a distance. Quietly told, it is probably best for a child and a caregiver to read while sitting close together..."

On August 25, a radio show about Yong Chen and his new book "A Gift" was broadcast in LA am1430. This program was produced by a well-known Chinese radio and TV writer and producer, a dear friend Yong met in the China trip Summer 2009.

This time he is on a Chinese TV program. Yong visited his home country this summer where he was interviewed by the hometown TV station, a city newspaper, a radio station, and other media. The interviews were focused on Yong's 20 plus years of transformation after he immigrated to the states, from working in a supermarket and restaurants, to become a creative director and college professor, and introduced his new children's book "A Gift". This special TV program was broadcast on August 22 evening on two major TV channels simultaneously.

Yong was featured in the article "Riding the Wave" (by Lisa L. Cyr) in the June 2009 Communication Arts magazine. In the interview, Yong talked about his interactive, online learning center in the arts, which is in production and development stage, and his experience in the MFA in Illustration program. Click here to read the article.

Yong will be on a trip back to China to meet all his inspirations for his newest children's book "A Gift". This July he will finish his MFA study in the University of Hartford. After the graduation, he will pack and get on the plane for Guangdong, China, where he is originally from.