Viviane Schwarz was born in Germany and grew up in a small town which was locally quite famous for its button museum.

She studied English at University while writing Fantasy stories to practise, then she moved to Cornwall, England, and got a master’s degree in Illustration. She sold her first picture book text while she was still in college.

She very much liked living by the sea, and most of her books feature at least one underwater scene and lots of fish.

Then she moved to London and started illustrating as well as writing. At first she drew fiddly pictures, then she hurt her arm and drew chunky pictures instead. Now she does both. Her books have been translated into several languages.

Viviane's books include (Scholastic) and Timothy and the Strong Pyjamas and Shark and Lobster's Amazing Undersea Adventure (Walker Books).