Lena Anlauf was born in the Ruhr region of Germany. Growing up, the Taschen-Brockhaus Tiere quickly became one of her favorite books, and she set up snail conservation areas in her backyard. Later on she studied book studies and philosophy in Mainz and Leiden and completed a further education course on pedagogy of literacy and literature as well as a remote course on children’s and young adult literature at the STUBE in Vienna. Today she lives in Marburg, works as editorial director and editor at the kunstanstifter verlag, researches historical picture books, and writes and designs her own book projects. Genius Noses is her children’s book debut.