Background

Marcus Pfister was born on 30 July 1960 in Bern, Switzerland.

Education

Marcus Pfister attended art school in Berne, Switzerland.

Career

In 1981, Pfister began working as a graphic designer at an advertising agency in Zurich; he also did photography, sculpting, and painting. Two years after moving to Zurich, he took a leave of absence and traveled around the United States for six months with his wife Kathrin. It was during his family’s trip to America that Pfister decided to devote more time to his own artistic pursuits.

After returning to Switzerland, Pfister began working part-time at the ad agency while writing and illustrating his first book, The Sleepy Owl. Published in 1986, the year in which Pfister left the advertising field to become a freelance writer and illustrator, The Sleepy Owl is a picture book about Little Owl and her human friend Tom.

Pfister published the first volume of his first series, Penguin Pete, in 1987. Pfister illustrates Pete’s adventures in pictures that combine cartoonlike caricatures of the penguins with soft, muted watercolors. Pfister produced the first volume of his next series, Hopper, in 1991. Pfister wrote and illustrated what is perhaps his best-known book, The Rainbow Fish, in 1992. An oversized picture book illustrated in fluid watercolors and shim-mering holographs, the story revolves around a beautiful but prideful fish who possesses sparkling blue, green, purple and silver scales.

In February 2017 he was the featured speaker, author, and illustrator at Nepal's first children's literature festival, Bal Sahitya Mahotsav.

Achievements

• Marcus Pfister is the popular and prolific creator of warm, gentle works that are credited for their sensitive depictions of emotion and for their distinctive, eye-catching illustrations. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the best-selling series featuring Rainbow Fish. The Rainbow Fish became an international best-seller - it has sold several million copies - and is considered one of the best-selling children’s books of all time. It also spawned a variety of spin-off products, including games, mugs, mobiles, puppets, postcards, bookmarks, plates, and greeting cards; spinoff products have also been inspired by several of Pfister’s other works.
  
  Pfister is also the creator of two other well-received series, “Penguin Pete,” which is about a small Antarctic penguin and his family, and “Hopper,” which features a childlike white hare. In addition, Pfister has written and illustrated several books about shared friendships between children and animals and is the author of a retelling of the story of the Nativity, a fantasy about how eclipses came to be, and a “choose-your-own-ending” story with an ecological theme; he is also the editor of a collection of twelve bedtime poems by such writers as William Blake, Edith Nesbit, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Four Candles for Simon: A Christmas story

    (A nine-year-old shepherd boy searching for a missing lamb...)

    1987
  • How Leo Learned to Be King

    (From the creator of the international bestseller "The Rai...)

    1997
  • Rainbow Fish to the Rescue!

    (In this exciting new adventure, Rainbow Fish is torn betw...)

    1998
  • Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale

    (When a big blue whale comes to live near their reef, ther...)

    1998
  • Hopper Hunts for Spring

    ("When Hopper's mother tells him that 'Spring is coming at...)

    1992
  • Shaggy

    (It shouldnt happen to a dog, especially one like Shaggy, ...)

    1990
  • Hopper

    (Even though he doesn't like the cold snow, Hopper, a litt...)

    1991
  • Penguin Pete's New Friends

    (In this second book in the Penguin Pete series, Pete leav...)

    1988
  • Sun And Moon

    (Sun and Moon, both miserable in their lonely existence, w...)

    1990
  • Penguin Pete and Pat

    (After traveling the seas, it’s love at first sight and a ...)

    1989
  • I See the Moon

    (This is a wonderful collection of classic bedtime lyrics ...)

    1991
  • Penguin Pete

    (Children will delight in Marcus Pfister’s adorable ‘Pengu...)

    1987
  • Hopper's Treetop Adventure

    (While searching for nuts in the forest, Hopper the hare m...)

    1997
  • Where is My Friend?

    (A cute little hedgehog finds and rejects a series of funn...)

    1986
  • The Christmas Star

    (Follow the shining star as it guides shepherds, kings, an...)

    1993
  • Santa Claus and the Woodcutter

    (Relates how a lonely woodcutter ridiculed by the village ...)

    1988
  • Dazzle the Dinosaur

    (Dazzle's beautiful shining spines give him a special spar...)

    1994
  • Wake Up Santa Claus!

    (What a disaster! Santa Claus has overslept! He leaps out ...)

    1996
  • Penguin Pete and Little Tim

    (Penguin Pete is a proud father, and he can't wait to show...)

    1994
  • Hopper's Easter Surprise

    ("Hopper, an arctic hare, aspires to be like the Easter Bu...)

    1993
  • Chris & Croc

    (Who could ask for a better friend than Croc, the stuffed ...)

    1994
  • Hang On, Hopper!

    (Hopper is having such fun with his friend Scamp that he l...)

    1995
  • Penguin Pete, Ahoy!

    (Out exploring one day, Penguin Pete spots an abandoned wr...)

    1993
  • Milo and the Magical Stones

    (A story about environmental choices where the reader gets...)

    1997
  • The Rainbow Fish

    (The Rainbow Fish is an international best-seller and a mo...)

    1992
  • The Happy Hedgehog

    (Mikko the little hedgehog loved his garden. He knew all t...)

    2000
  • The Rainbow Fish Treasury 1997
  • The Sleepy Owl 1986

Views

Often considered a moralist who creates parables in picture book form, Pfister underscores his works with themes about sharing, trust, cooperation, consideration, courage, and acting responsibly. Written in simple but fluid texts, these stories are generally illustrated with pen drawings and watercolors in pastel colors.

Pfister begins each of his books by stretching watercolor paper over a wooden board in order to keep the paper from warping when he wets it. He then copies his rough sketches on the paper in pencil. In order to create his backgrounds and blended contours, Pfister uses wet paint on wet paper to get a soft effect; for sharper details, he paints the final picture layer by layer on dry paper. When the illustration is finished, he cuts the paper from the wooden board. He creates his signature holographic foil stamping by taping a piece of transparent film over the picture and then indicating where the foil stamping should go; the foil stamping is applied after the pages are printed.

Quotations: “For me, there is one major criterion in determining the value of a book: if it brings adults and children together and makes them interact intensely, then it was achieved its purpose. A good book acts as a bridge between a child and an adult, sparking lots of questions, and expanding the imagination of the child.”

Personality

Most observers consider Pfister’s holograms to be dramatic and appealing; however, some reviewers view the stampings purely as gimmickry. In addition, Pfister is criticized for the stiffness of his texts, although this quality is often blamed on their translations. Most critics consider Pfister to be a talented author and artist whose works have undeniable child appeal while being both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Interests

• Travel, fine arts, reading novels, mysteries, travel stories

Connections

Marcus Pfister is married to Kathrin Siegenthaler, a writer. They have three children: Yannik, Miro and Nina.

Wife:

Kathrin Siegenthaler

Son:

Yannik Pfister

Son:

Miro Pfister

Daughter:

Nina Pfister