Sergio Ruzzier

Sergio Ruzzier is an Italian American picture book author and illustrator known for his distinctive, gently surreal style and character-driven stories for young readers. He was born in Milan, Italy, in 1966, began his career as an illustrator in 1986, and moved to New York City in 1995, where he created art and stories for national and international magazines and book publishers before later settling in an old house in the Apennine Mountains in northern Italy. Ruzzier holds both Italian and U.S. citizenship and was a 2011 Sendak Fellow, recognition associated with Maurice Sendak’s fellowship program.

Ruzzier has written and illustrated numerous picture books, including Fox & Chick: The Party: and Other Stories, which launched his comics-style early-reader series about the mismatched friends Fox and Chick and received a 2019 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor. His other author-illustrator titles include Two Mice, This Is Not a Picture Book!, A Letter for Leo, and Fish and Wave, the last of which also earned a Geisel Honor. His work has received multiple awards such as the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal for The Room of Wonders and for This Is Not a Picture Book!, and he has also illustrated books by authors including Karla Kuskin,