José Manuel Saraiva is an illustrator, graphic designer, educator, researcher, curator and author of children’s literature. He has a PhD in Arts and Communication from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP). He is the coordinator of the Postgraduate Programme in Illustration and Digital Animation at ESAD, where he has taught since 1998/1999.
Since 1999 he has taken part in dozens of national and international illustration exhibitions, and his illustrations have regularly won awards, including selection for the Illustrators’ Exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the Communication Arts and 3x3 magazines, a special mention in the 16th edition of the Prémio Nacional de Ilustração (2012), or the “Best of the Best” at the Hiii Illustration International Competition in 2014, 2018 and 2021 (with the illustrations for the Fantasmas do Porto series). Since 1999, he has worked extensively in editorial design for some of the most prestigious Portuguese publishers and other institutions.