Sylvia Nickerson is a graduate of Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto and Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. She studied both fine arts and mathematics. Sylvia has tutored mathematics to university students, designed books for Mosaic Press, created illustrations for magazines and newspapers and worked as an arts administrator in the Canadian book publishing industry. She's been working as a freelance illustrator since 2003. Her illustrations have been published in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, as well as in literary and commercial magazines in Canada and the United States.

In 2009 she won a gold medal for best series illustration from the Dog Writers Association of America. In 2012 she was nominated for a National Magazine Award (Canada).

Sylvia lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She is completing a doctorate at the University of Toronto in the history and philosophy of science. Hopefully, one day, it will be finished.