Björn Berg, 1923–2008, was born in Bavaria by Swedish parents and lived in New York City for nine years from the age of three. He decided to become an artist at an early age, and after art studies in Sweden he went to Paris to study for Fernand Legér and André Lhote.

His association with Astrid Lindgren began when Astrid saw one of his drawings and thought that the boy in the picture looked like an Emil. Björn Berg illustrated the books about Emil for over 30 years.