Iris Samartzi

Iris Samartzi was born in Athens, Greece. She studied Graphic Design and Interior Design & Architecture in Vakalo School, and graduated with a scholarship. She has attended seminars on child painting and drama in painting. She collaboraed with Vakalo School as an assistant professor in Scenography courses, Product Design and Architecture Interiors. She has been working as a children’s book illustrator since 2004, and has been awarded by the Greek IBBY, the EBGE Design Awards, and the Greek National Book Prize. In 2016 she won the Compostela Prize for picture books for the book El último día (author: A. Papatheodoulou). She has been nominated twice for the H.C. Andersen Award (2020, 2022) and is also a nominee for the 2021 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She teaches art to preschool children.