Barbro Gunilla Kristina Wolde (July 15, 1939 – April 15, 2015) was a Swedish writer and illustrator.
[3] She went through the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design (Konstfack) in Stockholm, and then worked as a caricaturist and satirical political illustrator for newspapers and magazines including Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet and the men's magazine Lektyr.
The first book about Totte was born out of a series of drawings Wolde made for her son when he was a year and a half old.
At the time, picture books often depicted animals or fairy stories, and Wolde's next door neighbour, the publisher Harriet Alfons, saw the potential in a picture book about a little boy struggling to put on his outdoor clothes, a scene that many parents and children would recognise.
[4] When Wolde's children had grown up, she stopped writing about Totte and Emma, changing her focus to books about horses written for an older audience.