Aliki was born Aliki was born on September 3, 1929 in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated from the Philadelphia Museum College of Art in 1951. After college, she worked in the display department at J. C. Penney Co. in New York for a year and then as a free-lance artist and art teacher in Philadelphia. In 1956 she spent several months traveling, painting, and sketching in Europe. In 1957, Aliki married Franz Brandenberg, also a writer, and they settled in Switzerland, where she worked as a free-lance artist. In 1960 the Brandenbergs moved to New York City. Aliki continued to write and illustrate children's books, both fiction and nonfiction. As well as illustrating her own works, she has also illustrated over fifty books for others, including those of her husband Franz, Joanna Cole and Paul Showers. Aliki and her family moved to England in 1977 where she continues to write and illustrate. She has been the recipient of many honours including the New York Academy of Sciences Children's Book Award and the Prix du Livre pour Enfants (Geneva). She received the New Jersey Institute of Technology Award for The Listening Walk in 1961 and for Bees and Beelines in 1964, the Boys Club of America Junior Book Award for Three Gold Pieces: A Greek Folk Tale in 1968, and the Children's Book Showcase for At Mary Bloom's in 1977. She also won the New York Academy of Sciences (younger) Award for Corn Is Maize: The Gift of the Indians in 1977 and the Garden State Children's Book Award (younger nonfiction) for Mummies Made In Egypt in 1982.