Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, known as E. T. A. Hoffmann (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann), was a German author and composer. He also was a draftsman and would create caricatures. One of his greatest works that has enchanted readers for nearly two hundred years is his novella, The Nutcracker, on which the famous ballet is based.

Lisbeth Zwerger has been accorded nearly every prize that can be given, including the highest international award for lifetime achievement, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. Since 1981 she has devoted her extraordinary talents to children’s literature, to stories as charming and picturesque as her native Vienna. Always surprising, always engaging, her artwork combines technical mastery with an insight and gentleness so rare and captivating that she has been correctly called one of the finest illustrators of the twentieth century.