Yara Kono was born in São Paulo, Brazil. She is an illustrator and graphic designer. She studied Biochemical Pharmacy at Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), and her drawings were the most popular within the cytology lessons. During college, she did an internship in an advertising agency and the idea of following a path other than pharmaceuticals may have originated there. She studied Design and Communication at Escola Panamericana de Arte and won a scholarship at the Yamanashi Design Centre in Japan. She now lives in Portugal and has been part of the Planeta Tangerina team since 2004. She won the (Portuguese) National Illustration Award in 2010 and Bissaya Barreto Award in 2016. Her mentions include Compostela Prize, Nami Concours (South Korea), Ilustrarte and the Illustrators' Exhibition in Bologna. She enjoys walking, cooking for friends and drawing elephants.
