Early life and education Demi was born in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the great-grand daughter of the American painter
William Morris Hunt, and the great-grand niece of architect
Richard Morris Hunt. Demi earned her nickname as a young child when her father started calling her "
demi" because she was half the size of her sister. She studied art at
Instituto Allende, Mexico, and with
Sister Corita at the
Immaculate Heart College in
Los Angeles. She was a
Fulbright scholar at the
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India.
Career Demi is known for her biographies for spiritual figures including
Mahavira,
Buddha,
Krishna,
Lao Tzu,
Jesus,
Mary (mother of Jesus),
Muhammad,
Rumi,
Francis of Assisi,
Gandhi, and the
Dalai Lama.
Awards and honors The Empty Pot was selected by former
First Lady Barbara Bush in 1990 as one of the books to be read on the
ABC Radio program ''Mrs. Bush's Story Time
. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed The Empty Pot'' as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."
Gandhi was awarded the
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award, while
Muhammad was named a
New York Times Best Illustrated Book.
Master of Zen: Extraordinary Teachings from Hui Neng’s Altar Sutra (World Wisdom, 2012), illustrated by Demi and translated and adapted by her husband Tze-si Huang, won a 2012 USA Best Book Award (Religion - Buddhism category).
One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale was awarded Mathical Hall of Fame status. A full list of over 20 awards and honors given to Demi’s books published by
Wisdom Tales Press can be found on Demi’s author page at the publisher’s website. In 1990, Demi and her husband Tze-si “Jesse” Huang represented the United States at the First Children’s International Book Conference in
Beijing. ==Select bibliography==