Blogger lands two worldwide book deals

She's famous on the Internet for her Japanese trend blog La Carmina (lacarmina.com). Her witty writing and “Gothic Lolita” handmade fashion caught a New York agent's attention. Now, 23-year-old Carmen Yuen, who goes by the name La Carmina, has landed two worldwide book deals.

Perigee, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, is publishing Cooking Cute, a Western spin on the Japanese bento trend where meals are decorated like Hello Kitty and Pokemon. La Carmina will create original recipes and adorable anime drawings for this four-color, photo-packed paperback.

La Carmina has more on her plate. This fall, New York art and graphics publisher Mark Batty is flying her to Tokyo and Taipei. She'll photograph and write about kooky theme restaurants – “ including maid cafes, a haunted jail, an S&M hospital, and a toilet-themed eatery. The full-color hardcover will be released in March 2009.

A writing prodigy, La Carmina has already published one book, inking her first contract at age 19. Cosmos in a Carrot applies Zen Buddhism principles to healthy eating and was published by Berkeley's Parallax Press in 2006.

In September 2007, La Carmina began blogging about Japanese style and trends on her site, lacarmina.com. LA CARMINA was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. The 23-year-old is a Gothic Lolita fashion designer, popular blogger, and soon-to-be author of three books. She holds a summa cum laude B.A. from Columbia University in New York, and is a recent graduate of Yale Law School.