Solveig Stibbe was born in Zambia in 1958 and has lived mainly in Africa, starting school in Swaziland and finishing it in Uganda and South Africa where she also studied Fine Arts at the Natal Technical College from 1976 - 1979.

As a child, her father worked for the United Nations and she travelled extensively. Later, working for a publishing company in Cape Town - Books of Africa (where she became Art Director in 1982). She travelled frequently all over Southern Africa with the writer and cinematographer TV Bulpin, taking photographs and creating illustrations for books and magazines, while continuing the fine art.

She has lived in Zambia, Swaziland, Mauritius, Uganda and South Africa. Her travels have taken her to the Channel Isles, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Madeira, Germany, Vietnam, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Lesotho and Botswana. She is now living and working in London, UK