Ian Falconer published the first of the Olivia picture books in 2000, which secured a Caldecott Honor the next year and launched a popular media franchise that included a 40-episode cartoon. Falconer passed away in 2023.
Falconer named the piglet character after his niece, Olivia Falconer Crane. Dan Kois recently interviewed her for Slate.
Crane tells Kois that she was five years old when the first Olivia book came out. She had a close relationship with her uncle, who gave her many gifts, including illustrations of her as a piglet. The characters in the books, including the pets, were all real people and animals that Olivia grew up with.
Despite her fictional appearances in the books, Crane's mother made a point of telling the young Olivia that she was not the character and vice versa. Crane grew up with a healthy separation from Olivia the piglet.
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