DIANA SUDYKA is a Chicago based illustrator and author. With a background in the printmaking arts, she started out working at beloved Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick’s Big Cat Press printmaking studio for 5 years. During this period she also designed and screen-printed many posters for musicians including Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, and Jeff Tweedy. Then moving into the publishing industry, she illustrated several books in the New York Times best-selling series The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. These days Diana is focused on illustrating and writing children’s picture books, in addition to her personal art. Using mainly gouache, watercolor, and ink, subject matter and aesthetic choices for her paintings are inspired by a love of nature, science, and various folk-art traditions including her Polish ancestry. When not working in her studio, she gets outdoors as much as possible. Her instagram feed has her most current work, as well as a disproportionate number of pictures of lichens and moss.

BOOKS AUTHORED AND ILLUSTRATED:

The Acorn’s Gift (Little Brown for Young Readers/Hachette) - 2027

Little Land (Little Brown for Young Readers/Hachette) - 2023

BOOKS ILLUSTRATED:

Sometimes Rain written by Meg Fleming (2018 Beach Lane Books/Simon and Schuster)

When Sue Found Sue written by Toni Buzzeo (2019 Abrams)

What Miss Mitchell Saw written by Hayley Barrett ( 2019 Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster)

How to Find a Bird written by Jennifer Ward (2021 Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster)

Dear Treefrog by Joyce Sidman (2021 Houghton Mifflin).

Would you Come Too? written by Liz Garton Scanlon (2022 Beach Lane Books/Simon&Schuster)

Fungi Grow written by Maria Gianferrarai (Oct. 2023 Beach Lane Books/Simon&Schuster), and

Angela’s Glacier written by Jordon Scott (Fall 2024, Neal Porter Books/Holiday House).

Just One Oak written by Maria Gianferrarai (April 2026 - Beach Lane Books/Simon&Schuster)

Interviews:

2023 Interview by Betsy Bird about Little Land here.

Video Interview with Victoria Staplton about Little Land here

Select Client List:

Abrams, Beach Lane Books, The Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Random House, Simon and Schuster, Neal Porter Books/Holiday House.

CONTACT:

For book related inquiries please contact Andrea Morrison at Writers House Ltd.

For all other illustration inquiries please contact Diana directly.

INSTAGRAM: @tinyaviary