A Chat with Circle Yuen – Our Dance
Circle Yuen, author and illustrator of Our Dance: Living Apart, Time Together, brings us a beautifully illustrated picture book about family, resilience, and the importance of child contact centres.
Based on her personal experience and years of community work, this touching story helps children navigate family transitions with hope and understanding. Join us as we chat with Circle about her inspiration, creative journey, and the impact she hopes her book will have.
Hi, Circle! Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and your new book?
What inspired you to write about co-parenting and child-contact centres?
Hi! I’m an author-illustrator of children’s books and a mother of two wonderful daughters. My work has always centred around themes of family, resilience, and social justice. My latest picture book, Our Dance: Living Apart, Time Together, is inspired by my journey of co-parenting after separation. It follows a child as they experience the rhythm of life with parents living apart, using dance as a metaphor for navigating change. It also introduces child-contact centres as safe, supportive spaces for children to maintain relationships with their non-resident parents. The book will be published by Graffeg in June 2025.
The idea for this book comes from a deeply personal place. Over a decade ago, my daughter, then in nursery, asked me, “Where is Daddy? I miss him so much.” I felt completely unprepared to answer. At the time, I couldn’t find many resources that truly spoke to what we were going through.
It was only when I discovered child-focused co-parenting that I began to see things differently. A counselor at a child contact centre in Hong Kong once told me, “Co-parenting is like learning a new dance.” That idea stuck with me—learning new steps, adjusting to a different rhythm, sometimes stepping on each other’s toes, but ultimately working towards the same goal: the well-being of the child.
Years later, at my daughter’s primary school graduation, she had only two tickets. Her father and I stood on opposite sides of the hall, yet at that moment, there was no division. We were both present in her heart. That was when I knew I had to create Our Dance.
Your research at Cambridge School of Art explored trauma and recovery in picture books.
How did research and personal experiences influence Our Dance?
When I began Our Dance, I was retracing my own journey alongside the stories of parents and children I encountered through research and community work. One of my biggest challenges was illustrating the father’s presence—not just as a character on the page, but as a reflection of the longing, resilience, and unspoken emotions that come with co-parenting. During my study, I spent time with support groups for fathers who no longer lived with their children after separation. One father described how, every time he saw his son, he arrived like a magician, pulling surprises from his suitcase—bubble toys, miniature cars, tiny gifts designed to turn fleeting visits into moments of pure joy. Another father created an ongoing story for his daughters, casting himself as a fairy who carried a magic wand, weaving a shared imaginary world that continued across each visit. These moments shaped Our Dance. They influenced the way I illustrated the visits—the way a father’s arms open wide as his child runs toward him at the child contact centre.
I hope this book becomes a companion—one that listens as much as it speaks.
How has your community work shaped the way you use storytelling beyond illustration?
My journey began with Two Nests – Love from Both, a book that gave voice to separated families in Asia. The response was powerful, and it led me to work closely with family support groups, educators, and social workers. I and my team started organizing workshops where children and parents could engage with storytelling as a form of emotional expression.
In our community theatre workshops with families experiencing separation, we explored poetry as a way for children to express emotions. Instead of asking, “What do you do when you miss someone?” we asked, “Where would you hide someone if you missed them?” One child responded, “I hide my daddy in my pillow.”
This shift in framing allowed children to engage with their emotions in their way—through imagery and storytelling rather than direct explanation. Our Dance follows the same philosophy. Rather than explaining separation, it invites children to make sense of it through their lens. Just as the theatre workshops gave children a voice through poetry, this book offers space for their emotions to be seen and understood.
What was the biggest challenge in getting Our Dance published?
After my MA graduation show, rejection emails started pouring in. “Too niche to sell.” The words hit hard, and I began questioning myself. Was this story too specific? Would it ever find a home?A friend’s words helped shift my perspective: “You’re not 20 anymore, experimenting wildly. You have years of community work experience—what do you truly want to do?”I decided to take off my creator’s hat and put on my center-in-charge hat. I reached out directly to the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC), writing invitations and preparing my Our Dance dummy book. I even knocked on their office door in person! But their response was beyond anything I expected. They invited me to present my project to professionals working with families and children.
One frontline worker shared, “I can really imagine giving this book to families at the start of the process. Children come in so nervous, not knowing what a contact center is. If they had this book, they could take it home, read it, and come back feeling more at ease.
I can see this being really useful for us.”
Hearing this brought me to tears.
The NACCC oversees nearly 300 accredited child-contact centers across the UK, ensuring that children in separated families have safe and supportive spaces to maintain relationships with their parents. Many families rely on these centers during times of transition, yet public awareness remains low. I wanted Our Dance to be more than just a story—it needed to be a resource for both children and the professionals working with them.After many years of revisions, I finally completed the final version of Our Dance, knowing that it had a purpose beyond the pages.
What’s next for Our Dance?
We’re currently working on community initiatives, workshops, and school visits to get Our Dance into the hands of children, families, and professionals who can benefit from it. I also hope to develop companion resources for educators and professionals, offering discussion guides and activities.
The book is set for release in June 2025, but in the meantime, I’m encouraging conversations about co-parenting, child contact centers, and how we can better support children experiencing family transitions.
Our Dance:
Living Apart, Time Together
Written & illustrated by Circle Yuen
In this heartfelt picture book, a child experiences the shifting rhythms of family life after their parents separate. Using the metaphor of dance, the story gently explores the emotions children face, reassuring them that love, connection, and joy can still flourish in new ways.
Our Dance also introduces child contact centers as supportive spaces for maintaining parent-child relationships.
Publishing in June 2025 with Graffeg.