AnnickPress

Julia Gukova was born in Moscow in 1961. She studied at the Art Academy in Moscow and has since illustrated over 30 children’s books. Julia’s books and art have been exhibited in Russia, France, Belgium and Germany, as well as at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Her work has been nominated for major honors; her books have won four international awards, and one title was runner-up for the prestigious Bratislava’s Golden Apple Award. The European edition of Alice in Wonderland that she illustrated was also nominated for a Graphics Prize in 1991, as chosen by the Centre International d’Études en Littérature de jeunesse (CIELJ), located in Paris.

Julia’s first book published with Annick Press, Freedom Child of the Sea by Richardo Keens-Douglas, is an honest while hopeful story of the human spirit, set against a backdrop of slavery. Canadian Children’s Literature raved: “Julia Gukova’s superb illustrations infuse the book with emotional power. While they elaborate upon specific features of the story as it unfolds, they suggest other meanings through symbolic elements in the settings, some transparent, others intriguingly cryptic” (1996). Similarly, The Reading Teacher observed that Julia “uses mixed media to produce a powerful vision of the mysterious dark sea and the freedom child” (1996).

Gukova lives in Moscow with her son.