Orit Bergman

Orit Bergman writes and illustrates her award-winning books from her home, perched on the rim of an extinct volcano in Mount Carmel (the original one) in Israel. She studied illustration at the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem, where she now heads the illustration studies. Among her many awards, the books “”Diary of a Shark Catcher”” and “”The Steam Engine”” won the Israel Museum Prize, her illustrations have won the Silver Medal of the Society of Illustrators, New York, and her work has been exhibited at the Bologna Book Fair. When growing up in Jerusalem, her father developed allergies to every pet she brought home, so she now raises a dog, a cat, a brood of chickens, and an unknown number of goldfish in a little pond. A pack of wild boars comes every night for dinner, gobbling up the remains of the pet food. She prefers drawing animals over humans, because they are never offended when she enlarges their ears and noses.