Natalie Galli

Natalie Galli creates books when dazzling ideas strike her imagination and will not let go. The original inspiration for her memoir, The Girl Who Said No: A Search in Sicily, came from a small newspaper article she read as a teen. Gestating for many years within her memory, it burst forth two decades later as an urgent quest which took her to the Mediterranean island to seek a heroic yet barely known trailblazer named Franca Viola.

[Foreword Reviews' 2019 Indies Book of the Year Award Winner - Honorable Mention/Travel]

Likewise, when Galli and her artist sisters produce children's picture books, they start with a mutually appealing concept, be it an abandoned Italian cat in need of a home, a lizard who gets a hankering for pizza, or a singing dog who navigates the calamity of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. They then build their stories and illustrations together, conferring and refining as they go. Fittingly, the logo for their publishing imprint Sunbath Studios is itself the result of an early childhood collaboration.

Yet a different sort of book came to fruition when the unpublished poetry of a family friend was found in a misplaced box. Galli and sister brought Margie Steiner’s evocative, moving poems - composed during her teen and young adult years - to life. This vividly illustrated collection is their tribute to a close friend, realizing her lifelong wish for publication.

Galli's work glistens with vibrancy, emanating from a deep feeling for her subject matter and fueled by the desire to communicate something personal and genuine. Women’s and Children’s Rights, Social Justice, History, Culture and Environmental Restoration continue to be some of her burning interests.

Galli has enjoyed a career in the health field for many years. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.