Bijou Le Tord was born and raised in Saint-Raphael, on the French Riviera and studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Lyon, France. She later moved from France to America, settling in New York City, and started a career creating textile designs for such designers as Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta. She also taught the theory and practice of color fundamentals at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Bijou became a full-time writer and illustrator of children's books in 1976, and since then has written and illustrated over twenty books for children. Bijou's latest book is A Bird or Two: A Story About Henri Matisse. She is currently living in Sag Harbor, New York, and working on a picture book about Marc Chagall.