About the author

Marlene Stör - The artist behind the Heidi picture books

Marlene Stör is a passionate artist, author and mother of four who has brought the world of Heidi to life with her illustrations. Inspired by her own childhood in Switzerland and her love of nature, she has created five volumes full of detailed colored pencil drawings - a heartfelt project that began as a gift for her granddaughters.

 

The path to the new Heidi book series

Even at school, drawing was her greatest passion. After training as a decorator, she traveled around Switzerland as a shop window designer before devoting herself to her family. But she never let go of art. When her son lived in Japan, she wanted to introduce her granddaughters to Heidi - but many of the editions were difficult for young children to understand. So she began to re-illustrate the story herself and tell it in a child-friendly way.

For four months, she drew mainly at night, processing personal losses and creating a world full of emotions with her art. A new volume was published every year until five volumes were finally completed.

 

Self-publishing & success under her own steam

As large publishing houses showed no interest at first, Marlene Stör founded her own publishing house without further ado. With a loan from her brother, she had 31,000 books printed in German and English. The first volume even had to be reprinted. She visited bookshops, presented her works, gave readings - and won over many enthusiastic readers.


Inspiration from the Swiss mountains

Today, Marlene Stör spends a lot of time in an old house above Amden - in the middle of the Swiss mountains that also inspired Heidi. It was there that she found the peace and quiet to complete the last book in the series. When she's not drawing, she's out skiing, hiking or on Lake Walen.

But the creative fire continues to burn: ideas for a sixth Heidi book have already been collected in her “Gwunderchästli” (curiosity box). Who knows - maybe Heidi's adventure will continue soon?