Iris Samartzi

Author, Illustrator

Iris Samartzi is a children’s book illustrator. Her work has received significant recognition in Greece and abroad: IX Santiago de Compostela Award for picture books (2016), the State Award for Illustrated Children’s Books (2012, 2016), the Award from the Greek Children’s Book Circle (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2023), and others. In 2020 and 2022, she was nominated for the HCAA (Hans Christian Andersen Award) following a recommendation by the Greek Section of the IBBY, and in 2021 she was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). Tata?? (Ikaros, 2020), the first children’s book with her own text, won the 2021 State Award for Illustrated Children’s Books and was included among the twenty best children’s books in the world by the Hans Christian Andersen Award committee in 2022. When she is not illustrating books, she organises art workshops for children. She lives and works in Athens. Find out more about her and her work at: www.irissamartzi.com