Meet the author

Axel Scheffler.

Writer & illustrator · United Kingdom · b. 1957

Axel Scheffler: German-born, UK-based illustrator who has drawn nearly every Julia Donaldson book (The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Stick Man) plus his own Pip and Posy series — a defining visual presence in UK picture books.

Axel Scheffler is a German illustrator born in Hamburg in 1957, who has lived and worked in the UK since the early 1980s. He is best known as the long-time illustrator partner of Julia Donaldson, together they have produced The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale, Stick Man, Zog, Tiddler, Tabby McTat, Superworm and more, making him one of the most-seen picture-book illustrators in UK childhood. His style is warm, slightly retro, character-led and rooted in classical European illustration. Scheffler also illustrates Pip and Posy (his own work) and the Pip the Penguin titles. A core household-name illustrator in UK children's publishing.