The Authors

Marie Sellier

After graduating from the Paris Institut Politique, Marie Sellier worked as a journalist for several years before taking up writing. For for nearly twenty years now, for the bene t of child- ren, she has been exploring with un agging enthusiasm ART in all its forms – a eld as vast as life. The result is some sixty books and forty collections, including L’Enfance de l’Art, Mon petit musée (published by Réunion des Musées Nationaux), Des mains pour créer (Paris-Musées), and Entrée libre (Nathan). L’Afrique petit Chaka, the album she conjured up with the com- plicity of Marion Lesage (RMN) has received the Sorcière Prize, the Octogone 2001 Prize, the German Youth Prize and Italy’s Andersen prize. Marie Sellier also writes lm screenplays and was awarded the title of ‘Knight of Arts and Letters’ in July 2007. In addition, she is chairwoman of the Charter of Authors and Illustrators for Young Readers and administrator of SOFIA. www.mariesellier.com

Pierre Colin-Thibert

Pierre Colin-Thibert was born in Switzerland in 1951. After practising various crafts – including intaglio printer and press illustrator – the urge to write came in his thirties with the radio play The 1001 days on France-Inter. He was introduced to television thanks to Jean-Michel Ribes who was directing the program Merci Bernard, which was followed by countless epi- sodes of series, cartoon lms, and some thirty TV lms. Now in his fties, he writes novels, short stories, BD scripts and theatre plays, of which Le Matelas was performed in 2010 at the Palais des Glaces.

Lilian Caprez

Born and raised on mother’s milk in Uruguay Did her rst painting in New York
In Rome, played with a house full of children In Paris, received her first pink plastic pen Trod forbidden paths.  Worked for a season at the circus
Again and again neglected clothes that needed mending
Found a bearded man
Expected a daughter
Expected another daughter
Gave birth to a son
Her life revolved around three things – her work, family and art Sold her cello
Trembled as she performed conjuring tricks in front of 500 people Scattered sugar on her father’s grave
Laughed and cried over dancing the tango
Took her computer apart
Returned to college
Collected scents
Was a passionate lover
Lost weight
Transcribed text messages for three years
Once cycled into a car
Was always very lucky
www.liliancaprez.ch

Thomas Frey

Tom Frey has been composing the world around him since the early 1970s, and since 2001 with a diploma from the Illustration Master Cllass in Lucerne. His one and only major breakthrough as a singer was in the 6th grade, with his perfor- mance of What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor? Ever since, his interests have increasingly been focused on the per- forming arts. Tom lives and works as a freelance designer in the Lucerne area. Since 2003 he has been the proud co-owner of Pepa da Tarto a, a Lagotto Romagnolo bitch. It goes without saying that he is fascinated by dogs, but also with hats and the simple things around him. www.hundundhut.ch

Anna Lea Guarisco

Born in Zurich in 1980, Anna-Lea Guarisco studied in the Faculty of Design and Fine Arts at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, where she graduated with a bache- lor’s degree in Illustration in 2008. Since then, she has been working as a freelance illustrator and comic-strip artist in the Lucerne and Zurich region. Her work can regularly be seen in the comic Blutt, as well as in the most diverse print media in Switzerland. www.annaleaguarisco.ch

Catherine Louis

Catherine Louis was born in 1963 in La Neuveville. After studying at the Bienne School of Visual Arts and the Strasbourg School of Decorative Arts (Claude Lapointe’s works- hop), she now lives and works in the canton of Neuchâtel. She has illustrated around one hundred books, some of which have been translated in to German, Italian, Dutch, English, Czech, Korean and Chinese. Her work on Chinese calligraphy earned her a selection for the 2005 Bratislava International Biennale and a place on the IBBY honours list. In 2006 she also received the Prix Sorcière at the Paris book fair for Mon imagier chinois, which also took her to China. Catherine Louis has created a touring exhibition of her work which, since 2003, has met with considerable success. Alongside her work as illustrator of child- ren’s books, she collaborates with children’s press, gives courses to adults and designs cultural posters and theatrical stage sets. www.catherinelouis.ch

Matthias Leutwyler

Born in Elizabethton, Tennessee, USA, Matthias Leutwyler started life with his parents in Africa, later moving to Switzerland. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Communication, specialising in Illustration Fiction at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Faculty of Design and Fine Arts (HSLU). He has supplied illustrations for newspa- pers and magazines, such as Enorm or B2B, and has been in- volved in many publications, such as with the Federal Of ce of Communications in Bern. www.matthiasleutwyler.ch

Stephan Schmitz

Born in the Dominican Republic in 1983, Stephan Schmitz spent around half of his primary school years in Asuncion, Paraguay. Back in Switzerland, he attended the Cantonal School of Riesbach, and afterwards was accepted onto the preliminary course at the School of Art and Design, com- mencing his degree in Illustration one year later at the Faculty of Design and Fine Arts at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. After graduating, he began work as a freelance illus- trator for newspapers, publishing houses and private individuals. In his freelance work he focused on contemporary portrait pain- ting and etchings. He works at the Strapazin Community Studio in Zurich, where he enjoys a lively free exchange of ideas with ar- tists, illustrators and graphic designers. www.stephan-schmitz.ch

Professor Sun

Sun Hao was born in 1958 in Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China. From 1976 to 1978, he participa- ted in a national programme which settled educated youth in the countryside as members of agricultural production brigades in Anhui Province. In 1982, Prof. Sun graduated from Anhui Normal University with an Art degree, having specialised in illustration. He then worked as an art teacher at the Kunming Teacher Training College. Now, Sun also works as an art He is a well-known painter and illustrator whose works have been exhibited at the Hangzhou Chinese Painting Exhibiton, the 94’ Beijing Modern Painting Exhibition. He won a prize at the 2003 Hong-Kong / Melbourne Exhibition of Renowned Chinese Painters. A number of his watercolors have also been exhibited in national exhibitions.
Lecturer at Kunming College
Member of the Kunming Painting Academy.

Pierre Thomé

Pierre Thomé is a qualified art teacher specialised in graphics and illustration. Since graduating, he has worked as a freelance illustrator for magazines and newspapers, as well as for children’s books, non- ction books and textbooks. He has completed his portfolio with work on lms and animation pro- jects. In 1984, together with other graphic designers and illus- trators, he created the comic Strapazin. In 2002, he took over as Course Director of the Illustration course at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Art, whose content he enlarged in 2006 to include his new specialisation of Non-Fiction. www.strapazin.ch/pierre_thome/