Alina Maria Crisan was born in 1971 in the spectacular Transylvania region made famous by the fictitious aristocratic vampire Count Dracula, in the book written by the Irish author Abraham Stoker. Alina is married to an Irish husband but there the coincidence ends!

Showing an early aptitude in creative arts, Alina completed her high school education before taking a Bachelors degree in Romanian and English language and literature and a post graduate diploma in art.

Teaching appointments in elementary schools gave Alina an opportunity to assist the linguistic and artistic development of children, before deciding to concentrate more fully on her creative work. She moved to England in 2004 and lives in Warwickshire.