Christina Balit
, b. 1961
Christina Balit was born in the UK, but spent most of her childhood in the Middle East. She studied at the Chelsea School of Art and Royal College of Art. Her distinctive style of illustrations is founded on the use of watercolours. Balit’s work covers a range of mythological traditions including Greek, Roman, Biblical, and Babylonian. Regarding classical myth specifically, Balit has written The Scarab’s Secret, Atlantis: The Legend of a Lost City, introduction by Geoffrey Ashe, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2000 and Escape from Pompeii, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003. As well as illustrating James Riordan, The Twelve Labors of Hercules, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1997. She has also illustrated books of fairy tale, the solar system and tales from the Bible. Christina is the winner of The English Association’s 4–11 Award for the Best Children’s Illustrated Book of 2001, Key Stage 2 Non Fiction Illustration Award in 2002 for The Kingdom of the Sun and UK Reading Association Award for Ishtad & Tammuz among other awards.
She says of her work "My need to make something from nothing is the reason my blood runs, and I need to keep it thick. I read somewhere that Jacques-Yves Cousteau said "If we didn't die, we would not appreciate life as we do. I don't fear dying, but I can't imagine how people live if they don't 'make' things." (Source here, accessed: August 7, 2018).
Sources:
Official website (accessed: July 4, 2018).
barefootbooks.com (accessed: July 4, 2018).
biography.jrank.org (accessed: February 12, 2021).
Bio prepared by Allison Rosenblum, Bar-Ilan University, allie.rose89@gmail.com and Robin Diver, University of Birmingham, RSD253@student.bham.ac.uk and Ayelet Peer, Bar-Ilan University, ayelet.peer@gmail.com and Constantine Christoforou, University of Roehampton, christoc1@roehampton.ac.uk
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