Interviewed by
Kathleen Hildebrand
It’s a cold winter’s day, and if he weren’t almost the only one in the snow-covered courtyard, one would probably overlook him, the world-famous illustrator Axel Scheffler: a gray-haired man in a black down jacket. The International Youth Library is currently dedicating a large one to Scheffler in Schloss Blutenburg, a pretty complex on the western edge of Munich Exhibition. Inside, he takes a seat in the “Grüffelo Tower,” a small, circular room designed like the forest in which the book is set. On the walls are drawings showing him struggling with the character, despairing of the first drafts. Axel Scheffler is still a little tired, but there is coffee from a thermos and biscuits.