Authors & Illustrators

Mareike Engelke designs and illustrates at a huge table in her studio in Duisburg harbour. She has been creating new picture books since 2016. She experiments, dreams, paints, draws, writes words, and sometimes creates art that is pleasurable to the heart. Mareike lives with two old cats and her childhood sweetheart in a former nursery….

Deniz Jaspersen is the singer and guitarist of the Hamburg indie band Herrenmagazin. Together with Ove Thomsen, he also makes music (not only) for children. He now also writes books for them. Rasmus Engler is a musician and author – he was and is a member of various bands (Herrenmagazin, Gary, Das Bierbeben and others)….

Julia Dürr was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1981. Her love of drawing took her via Leipzig and Cologne to Münster University of Applied Sciences, where she studied design. Since 2008 she has been working as a freelance illustrator with a great love for picture books. In 2009, she was honoured by the Stiftung…

Roger Olmos was born in 1975. He studied children’s illustration at the Llotja Avinyó school of arts and crafts in Barcelona. As an illustrator he has worked for publishers, press, advertising and television. He has published more than forty books, translated into numerous languages. He has won numerous awards, including the Lazarillo Prize in 2008;…

Uwe Becker was born and grew up in Krefeld. After studying biology, which took him to Tenerife, the Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe, he began writing poems for children in the 1990s. He lives in Cologne, where he has a garden, and in Wendland, which he loves very much. He also has a very adventurous dog…

Julian Tapprich, born in 1982 in Zurich, studied comparative literature and photography in Vienna and works as an illustrator and cartoonist. juliantapprich.com

After studying to be a teacher in Hamburg, Wiltrud Wagner went on to do a second degree: Illustration at the HAW Hamburg with a degree in design. She has been working as a freelance illustrator since 1994. She works in the children’s book sector and has illustrated learning materials and school books. She lives in…

Adrian Draschoff is a filmmaker and author based in Cologne. He has worked on documentary and fictional productions for various TV channels, for Netflix and for cinema. For the anti-racism children’s series “Moooment”, he and the team of authors were nominated for the Grimme Prize, the Golden Sparrow and the Civis Media Prize in 2022….

Natascha Baumgärtner works as a freelance illustrator in Berlin. Her clients include newspapers and magazines such as “Die Zeit”, “Geo Reisen”, “New York Times” and others. When You Dream is Natascha Baumgärtner’s first picture book for children.

Mira Schönegge is an illustrator and diversity trainer. She lives in Berlin and gives ceramics courses for children. She started writing stories while traveling, when she and her daughter drove south along the Atlantic coast in a little red bus. Mira has also been to the island of Ometepe twice. It exists in real life,…

Franziska Höllbacher is an author and illustrator. She graduated in media design from Salzburg University of Applied Sciences in 2021. She wrote, illustrated and published her first picture books during her studies. Peggy’s Period Project is her first novel, which she hopes will be followed by many more. She lives in Bavaria with her partner…

Jörg Isermeyer, born in Bad Segeberg in 1968, travelled all over Europe as a street musician. After completing his studies, he chose a career as a freelance artist over a university career and now lives in Bremen as an actor, director, theatre teacher, musician and writer. His books and plays have won several awards, including…

Sandro Ramseier, born 1994 in Interlaken, studied illustration in Lucerne after training as a graphic designer. His final project was honoured with the zeugindesign Foundation prize. Since then, he has worked as a freelance comic artist and author. Shantiland is his first publication.  

Jindřich Janíček was born in Znojmo/Czech Republic. He studied animation in Zlín and later illustration at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague. He decided to devote himself professionally to illustration and won the Czech Grand Design Award for the second time in 2023.

Ondřej Buddeus is a writer, translator and editor of the Czech magazine for contemporary poetry Psí víno. His texts have been honoured with several prizes and scholarships.

Michaela Beck grew up in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg and has a degree in architecture. She has worked as an architect, publisher’s representative and editor and after the German reunification studied “Scenic Writing” at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Since then she has worked as a freelance author, dramaturge and lecturer – mainly in the…

Simak Büchel was born in Bonn in 1977 and studied German language and literature, philosophy and biology. Doctorate on colonial literature. He has been a freelance author since 2007, introducing children to the fascination of stories with his adventure readings and taking them, acting and reading, into the worlds of fantasy. His work has been…

Writer and former paediatric and adolescent psychiatrist Volker Surmann is a satirist, author and publisher of the Berlin-based Satyr Verlag. He has been reading every Thursday at the “Brauseboys” reading theatre since 2003 and performs at poetry slams throughout Germany. After various publications for adults, “Leon Hert” is his first book for young people.

Michael Mantel began his drawing career as a storyboard artist for animated films. At the same time, he ventured into self-employment in 2003. Since then, Michael Mantel has been illustrating for publishers, advertising agencies and LIVE events, both nationally and internationally.

Judith Kleinschmidt was born in Berlin in 1977 and still lives there today. She studied film and theatre studies and took part in several further education programmes. Judith Kleinschmidt has worked on various film and theatre projects and is now an author for various children’s media.