The illustrator Catarina Sobral was born in Coimbra (Portugal) in 1985. She graduated with a degree in Design from the Universidad de Aveiro en 2007, studied at the Facultad de Bellas Artes de Barcelona and earned a Masters in Illustration from the Universidad de Évora in 2012. As an illustration she soon gained attention when her first illustrated book "Greve" earned a special mention for the 2011 Portuguese National Illustration Prize, led to her being selected to take part in the illustrators display at the Bologna Children's Book Fair the following year. Her first award came in 2014 when she won the fifth International Bologna Children's Book Fair - SM Foundation Prize for the picture book "O meu avô" ("My Grandpa").