Christina McMahon
Christina McMahon is a Pennsylvanian by birth and a Californian by heart. After many years in the sunshine state, where she picked up exotic pastimes like hiking and winetasting, she finally found the courage to be the creative soul she was always meant to be.
Now she writes picture books and middle-grade novels, many of them inspired by her own life experience. A former Peace Corps volunteer and Fulbright scholar, Christina spent almost four years living on the Cape Verde Islands in West Africa, where she learned to speak both Portuguese and Crioulo. She earned her Ph.D. in Theatre from Northwestern University, and for the past decade, she has been a professor of African and Caribbean theatre at UC-Santa Barbara.
Christina’s story, JUST THE BEGINNING, won first place (“Most Promising”) in the picture book category at the 2016 SCBWI-CenCal Writers’ Day. Current projects include a picture book adaptation of a Nigerian folktale, and an early middle-grade novel about a dare-devil Cape Verdean street cat and the 10-year-old girl she adores.
In recent years, Christina has delved into meditation and holistic healing. She teaches mindfulness classes regularly at the Women’s Center at UC-Santa Barbara, and is a featured meditation teacher on the Aura and Insight Timer meditation apps. She also has a part-time practice as an energy healer and counselor.
Besides writing children’s stories, Christina is a playwright, a blogger, and a contributor to Conscious Lifestyle Magazine. She lives in Los Angeles with her wonderful husband and a playful little tuxedo cat named Miss Bliss. You can find her at christinamcmahon.org.