Authors in Italy: Ballesta Juan

Juan Ballesta was born in 1935 in Almería (Spain). His first vignettes were published in satirical periodicals when he was only 18.

As a professional illustrator and painter, he lived in northern Europe and England, often returning to Spain, until settling in Milan at the age of 30, where he became a prominent advertising graphic artist and magazine illustrator.

In the '80s he returned to Spain and took up residence in Madrid, becoming art director of the weekly Cambio 16, for which he designs the covers and contributes caricatures and vignettes. He illustrates children's books written by other authors and writes and illustrates a series of his own, published in several languages, entitled Tommy and the Elephant.

He has also published three volumes of collected cartoons, in Italy, Spain and Holland.