Marko Kravos

Marko Kravos (1943) is a Slovene poet, writer, essayist and translator from Trieste. His short stories are known for their imaginary and lyrical elements, humour and Mediterranean sensuality. He has so far published 29 volumes of poetry and 19 books for children. He has received several prestigious awards in Slovenia and Italy, among which the Prešeren Fund Award, the Poetry Gold Medal in Celje, the 2019 Schwentner Prize for his work in publishing and reading culture, the L’Astrolabio d’oro poetry award, the Premio Reggio Calabria, the Scritture di frontiera. His work has been translated into 29 languages. He was President of the Slovene PEN from 1996 to 2000 and is currently President of the Slovenian Reading Badge Society and the Gruppo/Skupina 85 in Trieste. His most recent books for children are: Duina from Duino (Deva iz Devina, illustrated by Jurij Devetak, ZTT 2023) and Hiša selivka (The travelling House, illustrated by Erika Cunja, Miš založba 2021).

Marta Bartolj

Marta Bartolj (1979) is an illustrator and author. She received her master’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana (ALUO). Her master’s thesis, also published as a book titled Every Little Kindness, received the ALUO Student Award, the Special Prize for Outstanding Wordless Picture Book at the Kristina Brenkova Awards, and the Golden Pear Rating. The book was also included in the White Ravens selection and the biennial IBBY Silent Books Collection, placed on the IBBY Honour List, and shortlisted for an Ananas Illustration Award at the Beijing International Book Fair. The American edition of Every Little Kindness, to which eight publishers around the world have already acquired the rights, was bestowed the 2022 Ezra Jack Keats Award Honor, was shortlisted for the illustration exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and was displayed as part of the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf. In 2021 it ranked among the 20 best books of the year on Amazon, and among the ten best books of the year in People Magazine. In 2024 her illustrations for her silent book Are We There Yet? were shortlisted for an exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. She participates in exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad.

Maša Kozjek

Maša Kozjek (1974) is an illustrator whose work adorns more than 30 children’s books. She also collaborates with a number of magazines. She received the Golden Bird Award for her illustrations in Miroslav Košuta’s book The Ladder and the Little Cheese and Kajetan Kovič’s The Cat Fair. Between 2012 and 2017 she illustrated and designed Desa Muck’s successful ten-part children’s series about pets, Maggie the Magic Flea. Miroslav Košuta’s anthology A Bear with a Tiny Mouse on His Shoulder with her illustrations was nominated for the Levstik Award in addition to receiving the Golden Pear Rating. Her latest picture book, The Enormous Turnip by Alexei Tolstoy, also received the Golden Pear Rating.

Maša P. Žmitek

Maša P. Žmitek (1985), works as an illustrator, curator, and producer. She received her master’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. In 2018 she took over the management of the Vodnik Homestead Gallery, later establishing and managing the Slovenian Center of Illustration within the framework of the Divja Misel Institute. She is interested in artistic illustration, but devotes most of her time to scientific illustration, with a recent focus on depicting prehistoric creatures. Her analogue interactive books Giants of the Cenozoic, (2021), and Giants of the Mesozoic: Jurassic Dinosaurs, (2023) use a special analogue animation technique to breathe life into the illustrations. She has illustrated several literary projects for Slovenian and foreign publishers, and her illustrations have been featured in the Slovenian Biennial of Illustration, Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava, The Golden Pen of Belgrade and at numerous Slovenian and foreign galleries. She received the University Prešeren Award for her master’s thesis in the field of scientific illustration, the GRAPHIS Silver Award in New York, the Brumen Award for Excellence in Slovenian Design, the Golden Pear Award, and was named to the IBBY Honour List.

Matej de Cecco

Matej de Cecco (1979) is a comics artist, illustrator, translator, and editor. He studied translation and visual arts. For a while, he was the editor of the magazine Stripburger. As a translator, he mainly translated works related to drawing, and gradually began drawing more and more himself. From 2006 to 2008 he drew comic strips for the magazine Pil Plus. He illustrated the reissue of Desa Muck’s Deadly Seriously collection, with the book Deadly Seriously About School receiving the IBBY Slovenian Section’s My Favourite Book Award. The book Charming Experiments With Plants received the Golden Pear Rating. Since 2008 he has collaborated with Boštjan Gorenc on the comic strip Šnofi’s Gang, which is published in the magazine Pil. The adventures of Šnofi’s gang have also been published in three books. He has worked with several Slovenian publishers, agencies, and institutes, provided illustrations for museum exhibitions and publications, and participated in various advertising campaigns. His illustrations can also be found in textbooks, mobile apps, and games.

Matija Medved

Matija Medved (1990) works in the fields of illustration, graphics, drawing, painting, animation, and design. He designs posters, illustrates books, newspapers, magazines, and provides illustrations for foreign media such as Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Forbes, and Medium. He received the Hinko Smrekar Distinction and the TDC New York Award for Collective Work for his illustrations for a special edition of the student newspaper Tribuna. His illustrations for Bloomberg Businessweek and the visual identity of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre were included in American Illustration 37 and published in 3x3 magazine, receiving an award from the latter. His posters I Am Frank and Thinging each received a Brumen Award. His illustrations for The New York Times and Time Magazine have been included in the exhibition and catalogue of the Society of Illustrators in New York several times. The illustrations from the series One Day at a Time, published on Medium, received the Hinko Smrekar Accolade. In 2023 the Society of Illustrators awarded him a silver medal for a series of illustrations for a column in The New York Times, another silver medal for a series of illustrations for the Rog Centre, and a gold medal for a series of book covers for the literary festival Fabula. He is a member of the collective Ansambel.

Miha Hančič

Miha Hančič (1986), who signs his works as miha ha, is an illustrator and comics author. He graduated from the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana with a thesis on original comics. He adapted the story You Cannot Please Everyone All the Time for Stripburger magazine’s collection Fairy Tale Comics (2017). Together with Ram Cunta, he created the comic book Tik Went to the Woods for Firewood (2022), a comic book in which the order of reading is not important, as the story picks up and winds down on every spread, allowing the reader to continue reading the book from any point. In recent years, he has often worked in tandem with writer Maša Ogrizek. Together they created the world of Cluckrishna and her aunt Cluckrissa in the books Cluckrissa in the City (2018), Cluck-Cluck Town (2021), and Luke From the Block (2022). Numerous books with his illustrations have received the Golden Pear Rating, including Tik Went to the Woods for Firewood, and Urmal, the Mammoth’s Friend by Jože Urbanija with his illustrations received the Zlatirepec Award for Best Original Slovenian Children’s Comic. His work has been exhibited twice in the Slovenian Biennial of Illustration. He also draws for the Ciciban, Cicido, and Mavrica magazines. Together with Ram Cunta, he runs comics workshops for children.

Nataša Konc Lorenzutti

Nataša Konc Lorenzutti (1970) is a trained theatre actress, graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. Since 1999, she has been mainly dedicating herself to literature for young readers. So far, she has published more than 20 books for kids and young adults which have been nominated for various Slovenian literary awards. She has received the Golden Pear Rating and has also been selected for the IBBY Honour List. She worked for fourteen years as a drama teacher at the Nova Gorica arts high school, where she also staged plays based on her own works. She writes stage as well as radio plays. Since 2020, she has been self-employed in the cultural sector. She sometimes tells her stories in the form of kamishibai theatre. Her most recent books for children are: Jutri bom siten kot pes (Tomorrow I’ll be as annoying as a dog, illustrated by Igor Šinkovec, Sodobnost International 2023) and This is not a letter (illustrated by Tanja Komadina, Miš založba 2023).

Nina Mav Hrovat

Nina Mav Hrovat (1975) studied at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana and completed her MA in pre- school education. She initially worked as a teacher and is now employed as a pre-school teacher in a kindergarten. She publishes professional articles and gives lectures for parents and professionals, performs for children in nursery schools and primary schools in Slovenia and abroad, encouraging reading culture. Her first stories were published in 2001 in quality children’s magazines (Cicido, Ciciban). Her debut book, the fairy tale O kralju, ki ni maral pospravljati (The King Who Hated Tidying Up) (Mladinska knjiga, 2008) received the 2009 award for Best Slovene Original Picturebook. In recent years she has received numerous other nominations and awards for her picture books, many for the 2021 group project of audio stories she worked on, Logopedske lahkonočnice (Speech Therapy Goodnight Tales), that received the Special Jake Wittmer Research Award, for an excellent solution to a problem that is identified on the basis of an exceptional research of a situation/market, as well as the Golden Textwriting Award. Also notable are two of her recent works, Posluh, jazbec gre! (Listen Up, Here Comes Badger!) (Miš, 2020) and Ozimnica (Stores for the winter) (Zala, 2020).

Peter Škerl

Peter Škerl (1973) graduated in graphic design and illustration. At the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, he evolved his illustration into a creative, comprehensively designed, and imaginative whole. With an eye for illustrating literary content, he used various painting techniques and their combinations to develop a unique artistic expression. He has co-created plays and puppet shows, initially as an amateur actor, and later also as a visual concept designer. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Hinko Smrekar Award for his illustrations for Barbara Simoniti’s Marshfolk, which were also included in the international illustration exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. He has been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award three times and the Hans Christian Andersen Award twice.