Riggio, Anita

Anita Riggio has illustrated a number of children's books and has also worked as a cartoonist and a commercial illustrator. A native of Clifton, New Jersey, she was the middle child in a family of seven, with one brother, three sisters, and two parents. Ms. Riggio attended the local parochial school and spent holidays planning shows for her large extended Italian-American family. She attended Lacordaire School in Upper Montclair, NJ, and worked as an illustrator for The Hartford Courant in Hartford, CT . Ms. Riggio is currently on faculty in the MFA in Creative Writing program at Lesley University in Boston, MA . She adapted her 1994 work Beware the Brindlebeast for the National Theatre of the Deaf 's Little Theatre of the Deaf 2007-2008 tour. She lives in Wethersfield, CT, with her husband Roland Axelson .