José Manuel Saraiva was born in Porto in 1974 and graduated in Communication Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Porto. He was awarded the Eng.º António de Almeida Prize for achieving the highest average grade in his graduating class in the academic year of 1997/98. Since the academic year of 1998/1999, he has been teaching at ESAD, the Higher School of Arts and Design in Matosinhos.
His work has been recognized both in Portugal and abroad, including notable selections such as the Illustrators Exhibition at the International Children and Youth Book Fair in Bologna (2002), the annual exhibition of the Society of Illustrators, Comunication Arts Illustration Annual, Graphis New Talent Design, Una muestra de Ilustracion Ibero Americana Contemporânea at the National Library of Madrid, International Biennial of Illustration for Children, ILUSTRARTE (Special Mention, 2003), Bratislava Illustration Biennial (2005), Mostra Internazionale d´illustrazione per l´infanzia, Le Immagini della Fantasia (2004), 3×3 Children’s Show (2012), Special Mention at the 16th edition of the National Illustration Award (2012), and the Portuguese Illustration exhibitions at the Bedeteca in Lisbon. He was invited by the French publisher Editions Sarbacane to illustrate the albums Juste à ce moment-là (winner of the Spring 2004 AMAZON.FR Award) and Rouge Cerise (2005). In 2014, he was honored with the Best of the Best award at the Hii Illustration 2014 International Competition.
