Avellina Balestri
Author | Editor | Speaker | Musician | Historian
Profile
Avellina Balestri is a Catholic author, editor, speaker, musician, and historian based in the scenic Pennsylvania-Maryland (Penn-Mar) borderlands, nearby the Gettysburg Battlefield and the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Her Italian-American heritage is in synergy with her passion for spirituality and the arts.
Written Works
Avellina’s wide assortment of essays, stories, poems, and interviews have been featured in over forty print and online publications including St. Austin Review, ChurchPop, One Peter Five, Geeks Under Grace, and Emerging Revolutionary War. Her historical fiction novels (chronicling the adventures of 12th century outlaws and 18th century redcoats) and her poetry collections (ranging from historical commemoration to social commentary), as well as various anthologies in which her works have been included, can be found on Amazon and Goodreads.
Speaking Engagements
Avellina is the Editor-in-Chief of Fellowship & Fairydust, a literary magazine inspiring faith and creativity & exploring the arts through a spiritual lens. Under its auspices, she organized and participated in two interfaith conferences at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the United Kingdom. As a speaker, she represented her native state of Maryland at The Sons of the American Revolution National Orations Contest in Greenville, South Carolina. She has given live presentations at Theology on Tap, The Carroll County Historical Society, The Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and Fort Loudoun’s Market Fair and been interviewed on over thirty YouTube channels and podcasts about faith, literature, and history, including Because Fiction Podcast, Intellectual Catholicism, Love Unrelenting, Revolution 250, and Revolutionary War Rarities.
Musical Performances
As a vocalist and musician, Avellina takes inspiration from traditional folk and religious music from around the world. In addition to singing, she plays the penny whistle, bodhran drum, and autoharp, and releases recordings of her performances (including her original compositions) on her YouTube channel. She has performed with the Celtic band Across the Pond and was a finalist in the benefit competition Hanover Has Talent.
Influences
Avellina has a special love of British & Early American history, with a particular focus on the Middle Ages and the Long 18th Century. She is also interested in Middle Eastern history, culture, and languages. Some of her favorite works of literature include The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton, Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot, Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich, Death on a Friday Afternoon by John Richard Neuhaus, and The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander. Among her favorite films, she counts A Man for All Seasons (1966), I Confess (1953), The Song of Bernadette (1943), Amazing Grace (2006), Waterloo (1970), Damn the Defiant (1962), and Gettysburg (1993). Her favorite music artists include Loreena McKennitt, Karliene, Maddy Prior, Heather Dale, Julie Fowlis, John Michael Talbot, and Sami Yusuf.
Spirituality
Avellina views reality through the lens of the Christian mystical tradition, seeing the Trinitarian and Incarnational mysteries reflected in all things good, true, and beautiful. She believes that the image of God is wondrously imprinted upon every human heart, acting as the groundwork of universal human dignity, from conception to natural death. She has a special devotion to the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales (such as St. Edmund Campion and St. Margaret Ward) and the Carmelite mystics (such as St. John of the Cross and St. Elizabeth of the Trinity). She also deeply appreciates the legacy of Islamic Sufi sages such as Rabia al-Basri and Jalal al-Din Rumi. As such, she is dedicated to interreligious and intercultural dialogue, shining a light on artistry in praise of the divine that has been shared across eastern and western civilizations. These spiritual threads are interwoven throughout her storytelling style, and she dares to hope that, in the words of Julian of Norwich, all manner of things shall be well.