Ana Zavadlav (1970) is an academically trained painter and illustrator. She graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, and went on to specialise in graphic arts. Following her studies, she spent some time working as a graphic artist, but has focused mainly on book illustration for children and young adults since 2002. She regularly contributes to the Ciciban and Cicido magazines. Her works have been displayed in several solo and group exhibitions. Her illustrations for Toon Tellegen’s book The Healing of the Cricket were exhibited at the 2019 Bologna Children’s Book Fair. In 2023 some of her works for Italo Calvino’s Italian Folktales were featured in the Fair’s Italian Excellence: Illustrations for the Italo Calvino competition, which featured unique and innovative interpretations of Calvino by 30 illustrators, selected from among 521 authors from 47 countries. Zavadlav has received several accolades and awards, including the Levstik Award, placement on the IBBY Honour List, and a nomination for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.