Erik Blegvad was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on March 3, 1923. He apprenticed in a machine shop because he was planning to become an airplane mechanic. However, he left the shop after the German occupation of Denmark in 1940, when it began doing work for the Nazis. He spent several days in a Nazi prison for distributing Danish resistance literature. He graduated from the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts. After Germany's defeat, he served in the Royal Danish Air Force and later assisted the British as a German-to-English translator in occupied Germany. He was working as a commercial illustrator in Paris when he met Lenore Hochman, who he married in 1950. He illustrated his first… children's book, The Story of Peace and War by Tom Galt, which was published in 1953. During his lifetime, he illustrated more than 100 children's books. His works include Bed-Knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton, The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall, The Complete Book of Dragons by E. Nesbit, Peter and the Troll Baby by Jan Wahl, and Hurry, Hurry, Mary Dear by N. M. Bodecker. He also illustrated picture books written by his wife including The Great Hamster Hunt and This Little Pig-a-Wig and Other Rhymes about Pigs. He wrote the book Self-Portrait in 1979. He died on January 14, 2014 at the age of 90.