Meet the author

Natalia Shaloshvili.

Writer & illustrator · United Kingdom

Natalia Shaloshvili: London author-illustrator whose deadpan, Klassen-esque Bear picture books turn sharing and worry into something wonderfully funny and true, for ages 3–6.

Natalia Shaloshvili is a London-based author-illustrator who began her career in fashion and editorial illustration before finding her true home in children's books. Her picture book Bear, and its companion Bear's Worries, star a wonderfully deadpan bear navigating the small, testing business of sharing a bench and the runaway what-ifs of worry. Rendered in moody crayon-and-watercolour artwork and told with dry, conversational wit, her stories turn everyday frustrations and anxieties into something funny and true, leaving gentle room to talk about big feelings, personal space and resilience without ever wagging a finger. Often likened to Jon Klassen for their sly humour, Shaloshvili's books work as beautifully for grown-ups reading aloud as for the young children recognising themselves on the page.