Wolf Erlbruch (born in Wuppertal, Germany) was an award-winning illustrator and writer of children's books. He combined various techniques for the artwork in his books, including cutting and pasting, drawing, and painting. His style was sometimes surrealist and was widely copied inside and outside Germany, and some of his story books discuss adult topics such as death and the meaning of life. They have won many awards, including the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1993 and 2003, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustration in 2006.