Olivia is a picture book written and illustrated by Ian Falconer, and it stands as his most notable work.

Falconer was born on August 25, 1959, and attended The Cambridge School of Weston before going on to study at Parsons School of Design. He built a career across several creative fields, working as a costume designer, an illustrator, and a writer. That combination of visual and literary work shaped the path that led him to produce Olivia, a children's book that brought together his skills as both an author and an artist.

Falconer was a citizen of the United States and worked in the English language throughout his career as a children's writer. He died on March 7, 2023, at the age of sixty-three. Olivia remains the concrete anchor of his reputation, the work most closely associated with his name across his roles as illustrator and writer.