Sven Nordqvist

Sven Nordqvist's drawing of his studio in Stockholm — Sven Nordqvist’s drawing of his studio in Stockholm

A trained architect, Sven Nordqvist describes himself as a draughtsman rather than an author or illustrator. He has dabbled in illustration from childhood and has won numerous awards, mainly for his Pettson and Findus series, which have been successfully published in many languages.

In his Pettson and Findus series, Nordqvist deliberately set out to create a safe world, a world where problems could be solved. Such a world, he believes, provides the security that children need in today’s world: “The world should be understandable. That’s basically the way I myself would like it to be.”

Sven Nordqvist’s pictures have a richness of colour and detail that is hard to find elsewhere. Each picture is its own world, full of little figures and things that in their own way comment on the rest of the story, and you can look at them for a long time and still find new details you hadn’t noticed before. Perhaps this is why his pictures are so loved and appreciated by so many people, from young children to adults who have long since left their picture-book days behind.

In total over 18 million copies of the Pettson and Findus books have been sold worldwide and they have been translated into 55 languages.