Meet the author

Chris Naylor-Ballesteros.

Writer & illustrator · United Kingdom

Chris Naylor-Ballesteros: author-illustrator of Frank and Bert and the award-winning The Suitcase — deadpan, laugh-out-loud picture books with real heart for 3–6s.

Chris Naylor-Ballesteros is a British author-illustrator from Bradford who studied illustration at Bradford College of Art and now lives in France. He writes and illustrates warm, very funny picture books built on bold, expressive artwork and a deadpan, read-aloud-perfect text. He is best known for the Frank and Bert series, in which a fox and a bear who are the very best of friends work through the small niggles of any friendship, hide-and-seek, learning to ride a bike, owning up to eaten biscuits, always ending up back together, usually with a hug. His acclaimed standalone The Suitcase, a gentle, resonant story about welcoming a stranger, won the English Association's Picture Book Award, and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Naylor-Ballesteros pairs genuine laugh-out-loud comedy with real heart, making him a reliable choice for sharing big feelings with 3–6s.