Valeria Wicker is the author-illustrator of The Ugly Doodles, Grown with Love, and The Knight Snacker, as well as the illustrator for the graphic novel The Runaway’s Diary written by James Patterson. She was born and raised in Italy and graduated with a degree in fashion design from IPS Virginia Woolf, an Italian art institute. She immigrated to the United States when she was twenty years old. When she’s not illustrating, she spends time gardening, woodcarving, making pottery, restoring old furniture, and spending time on her latest personal project: turning her backyard woods into a fairy-filled woodland forest.