Gorazd Vahen

Gorazd Vahen (1969) primarily illustrates children’s books. Since graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, he has illustrated more than 30 books, seven textbooks, a number of poems and short stories, as well as historical manuals and guides. Among his iconic works are illustrations for several books by Svetlana Makarovič (such as Oka the Owl, Mishmash Bakery, and Skipmouse) and Little Sleepy Star by Frane Milčinski Ježek. He has received a Special Mention by the Jury at the Slovenian Biennial of Illustration and the Hinko Smrekar Distinction for his work.

Hana Stupica

Hana Stupica (1988) has displayed her works in several solo and group exhibitions and published them in the Ciciban and Cicido magazines. She has illustrated numerous books, including Anja Štefan’s The World Is Like a Merry-Go-Round and Rabbit’s House, The Mitten, Schönwerth’s Fairy Tales, and Darja Marinšek’s The Forgetful Centipede. She also designed the visual concept for a Ljubljana Puppet Theatre show based on Štefan’s Rabbit’s House. She has illustrated advertising campaigns and collaborated with the fashion brand Just a Corpse. She also creates her own collection of useful products, taking her masterful images from books, an intertwining of noble painting and illustration tradition with contemporary forms of visual art, incorporating them into everyday life. She is the youngest recipient of the Hinko Smrekar Award and was nominated for the Levstik Award and the Kristina Brenkova Award. She received the Best Book Illustration Award at Ilustrofest in Belgrade. At the Slovenian Advertising Festival, she received a Special Commendation for Best Illustration in Advertising twice, and her illustrations for Fedora Wines received the Hinko Smrekar Distinction and the Brumen Award.

Helena Kraljič

Helena Kraljič (1971) is a youth writer, translator, editor and publisher. She graduated in economics and then worked for several years as a radio presenter, real estate agent, accountant and auditor. Her texts are often discussed in professional works, many of her stories have been staged in theatre plays and her picture books are broadcast as cartoons in Russia and Korea. As an active publisher, she is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the SKS, and serves as Vice-President of the international association of writers, poets and publicists, SCPEN. Her children's books have been nominated for the Kristina Brenkova Award several times, her book Sofia and the Ballet Slippers won a special award for quality integration of artistic genres in 2022, and her book Dancing in a Container was awarded Best Ecological Picture Book in 2009. Her latest book, published in 2023, is Badger the expert.

Huiqin Wang

Huiqin Wang (1955) is an academically trained Slovenian-Chinese painter who graduated from the Nanjing Academy of Fine Arts. She has lived in Ljubljana since 1983, obtaining specialisation from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design. Wang builds artistic bridges between languages, literatures, and cultures, just like fairytale motifs travelled along the Silk and Amber Roads. In addition to painting, she works in illustration and multimedia art. Her illustrations have won several major awards. She has published three original Slovenian-Chinese picture books, writing the texts herself as well: Hallerstein: A Slovenian at the Chinese Court (2014), Castiglione: A Painter at the Chinese Court (2015), and I, Marco Polo (2018). The text for her picture book Little Alma on a Big Journey (2020) was written by Milan Dekleva. These books have been translated into English, Italian, and Croatian. In 2022, Huiqin Wang and Andrej Kamnik adapted the picture book Little Alma on a Big Journey into an animated film, which has been screened at several festivals.

Ida Mlakar Črnič

Ida Mlakar Črnič (1956) studied Slavic studies and comparative literature in Ljubljana. From 1995 until 2021 she worked in the field of bibliopedagogy at Ljubljana City Library. In 2016 she received an award from the Slovene section of IBBY for her contribution to promoting youth literature and reading. In her writing she reflects on relationships, emotions, aging, poverty, and her stories are directed at adults as well as children. Her picture book O Kravi, ki je lajala v luno (The Cow That Barked at the Moon) (Miš, 2015) won the 2016 Kristina Brenkova Original Slovene Picture Book Award and was also included on the 2016 White Ravens list. Her picture book Tu blizu živi deklica (Close to Here) (Sodobnost, 2019) was also included in the White Ravens Catalogue in 2019. The picture book Kako sta Bibi in Gusti prezvijačila hrib (How Bibi and Gusti Wanted to Climb a Hill) (Didakta, 2020), was in 2022 chosen as the book given as the gift from the Slovene Reading Badge Society to all first-year pupils. Her stories have been dramatized for an animated film, a radio play, and radio story readings. Other notable works include Ciper coper medenjaki (Magic Gingerbread) (Ajda IBO Gomboc, 2008), Kako sta Bibi in Gusti sipala srečo (How Bibi and Gusti Spread Happiness) (Didakta, 2010) and Cipercoperček (Magic Spells) (Sodobnost, 2012).

Igor Šinkovec

Igor Šinkovec (1978) is an illustrator and animator. He works with publishers in Slovenia and abroad, illustrating books and textbooks, and also contributes monthly illustrations to the Ciciban, Cicido, and Galeb children’s magazines. His works have been featured in group and solo exhibitions and illustration biennials. He also dabbles in animation. Among other things, he created the animated short film Egon the Hat and was in charge of the artwork and animation for the Professor Florijan Umek series of educational games at the Natural History Museum in Ljubljana. Sašo Dolenc’s book From Genes to Stars, which features his illustrations, received the Golden Pear Award. His illustrations for Peter Svetina’s picture book Timbuktu Timbuktu received the Kristina Brenkova Award. He also created the artwork for a puppet show based on the picture book. He was nominated for the Levstik Award and included on the IBBY Honour List for his illustrations for the picture book Have You Ever Tried Moon? by Boštjan Gorenc Pižama. He also received a nomination for the Levstik Award for the book Have You Ever Ridden a Seahorse? by the same author, as well as Special Recognition at the Kristina Brenkova Awards for the picture book The Owl Chef by Svetlana Makarovič (2023).

Ivan Mitrevski

Ivan Mitrevski (1979) is an illustrator, comics artist, and writer. He mostly creates works for children and young adults. As an illustrator, he has collaborated with numerous established Slovenian authors, and has in recent years written and illustrated several works of his own. His illustrations are a recognizable fixture of children’s and young adult magazines, and can also be found in textbooks, tourist guides, advertisements, and posters. There is an abundance of humour in his illustrations, which sometimes leads him to the bizarre and the absurd. Although he is committed to art for children, he likes to tackle pressing social topics in his books, such as environmental degradation (Bella the Wolf and the Magic Forest, 2020), fear (Who’s Afraid of Dentists?, 2020), or the contrast between private transport and public space (Fleatown, 2021). Many of his works have received the Golden Pear Rating. The comic book Bella the Wolf and the Magic Forest was nominated for a Zlatirepec Award in the Best Original Children’s Comic category.

Izar Lunaček

Izar Lunaček (1979) is a comics artist, illustrator, translator, publisher, and promoter of comics. He completed his studies in painting as well as in philosophy and comparative literature. He has been publishing comics in local newspapers and magazines (Slovenske novice, Delo, Stripburger, and Mladina) since 1999, he drew the first Slovenian webcomic Paradise Misplaced from 2009 to 2011, and he published his comics blog column online at delo.si and ludliteratura.si from 2014 to 2020. His comics have been collected and published in eleven books so far, including one in Spain (Paraíso extraviado, 2013) and two in the United States (Animal Noir, 2016, and Holy Fools and Funny Gods, 2023). In 2012 he began organising monthly comics-themed evenings, which eventually evolved into the first international comics festival in Slovenia, Stripolisfest. After two years and with the involvement of other protagonists of the Slovenian comics scene, Stripolisfest became the Tinta Festival, the main annual comics event in Slovenia today. He has had several solo exhibitions, and several of the books he collaborated on have received the Golden Pear Rating.

Jakob Klemenčič

Jakob Klemenčič (1968) studied electrical engineering followed by art history, and he works as a librarian. He has been drawing comics since he was young; via the secondary school newspaper and youth press, he became one of the founders of the comic strip magazine Stripburger, where he joined the editorial team. Characteristic of his comics are short stories that he has, beside Stripburger, published in various Slovene and foreign magazines as well as literary anthologies (for example Black, Dirty Stories, 24 Hour Comics, Comics Sketchbooks, Zone 5300, Quadrado) as well as some in self-published, small-format brochures, the so-called ‘mini-comics’. In Alma M. Karlin – Svetovljanka iz province (Alma M. Karlin – A Citizen of the World from the Provinces) (Forum Ljubljana, 2015) he and scriptwriter Marijan Pušavec depicted the life of the well-known writer and world traveller. Klemenčič also turned the older (pseudo)historical tale by Januš Golec Trojno gorje (Triple Woe) (Forum Ljubljana, 2022) into a comic strip form. Beside comics he is also involved in illustration (magazines, books, museum exhibitions), painting and printmaking. He has had five solo art exhibitions (Slovenia, France, Brazil), and has with his comics also participated at several group exhibitions.

Jana Bauer

Jana Bauer (1975) is a bestselling children’s book author. Her writing combines witty, amusing characters with compelling stories. Her first work, Izginjevalec čarovnic (The Witch Vanisher) (Vodnikova založba, 2002) was nominated for the 2003 Večernica Award. Her greatest popularity came with the with Groznovilca v hudi hosti (Scary Fairy in Wicked Wood) (Sodobnost, 2011), which has so far been translated into 19 languages. It was nominated for both the Večernica and Desetnica Awards in 2013. The audiobook of the German translation, Die Kleine Gruselfee, was awarded the AUDITORIX Hörbuchsiegel, Audiobook of the Month from the German Academy of Literature for Children and Young Readers, and the KIMI Seal for diversity in children’s books. In 2020 she received the main prize of the Macedonian International Literary Festival (Another Story) and the Desetnica Award from the Slovene Writers' Association for her book Ding dong zgodbe (Ding Dong Stories) (Sodobnost, 2018). Her picture book Kako prestrašiti pošast (How to Frighten a Monster) (Sodobnost, 2020) was included in the 2020 White Ravens International catalogue. Her most recent picture book, Kako objeti ježa (How to Hug a Hedgehog) (Sodobnost, 2022) was nominated for the Desetnica and Večernica Awards and received the Kristina Brenkova Best Slovene Picture Book Award for 2022.