BIOGRAPHY

Sheila Bali was born in Budapest, Hungary, when Hungary was ruled by the iron grip of post World War II Russian communism. At the age of seven, Sheila and her family were forced to flee for their lives, narrowly escaping the murderous 1956 revolution against the Russian occupying forces. As a refugee, she experienced a time of frightening insecurity until she finally immigrated to Canada. There, she lived most of her life in Montreal, and speaks multiple languages: English, French and Hungarian. She received a fine arts degree from Concordia University, and went on to pursue further studies in art education and special education at McGill University.

The urge to write came to Sheila after her mother passed away. At first, she wanted to tell her mother's life story. Later, when her friends and husband encouraged her to write about her own dramatic exodus from Hungary, the writing urge turned into a passion. In her first book, Sheila draws from her life experiences, coloring them with imagination until they become a beautiful painting of words.

Sheila has exhibited and sold her paintings in Montreal and has taught special education classes. She started up and ran a successful nationwide specialty cut-flower business. She lives with her husband and two dogs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sheila has two wonderful children and two handsome grandsons.