Cherita Banton has always had a passion
for writing, from making up songs and
creating short stories as a child, to covering
professional, collegiate and high school
basketball for the Chicago Daily Defender
newspaper. Born and raised in Chicago,
Illinois, Cherita received her undergraduate
degree in Communication, with an English
minor, from DePaul University in Chicago
and went on to obtain a Master of Arts in
Writing from DePaul.

It was in high school that Cherita first learned she had a true gift
for writing. She wrote her first Christian poem, My Man, as a
response to a poem written by a friend, and then began creating
poems for other classmates. As the word spread, others requested
poems to be written about their situations. Cherita went on to
write a variety of poems for her classmates about relationships,
family, and special occasions, including birthdays and home
goings. It was the rate at which those poems were completed
that signaled her unique gift. She could sit down at the start
of a class period, gather information from her classmate that
was necessary for the poem, and have it completed before the
bell rang.

Today, Cherita continues to grow as a writer. Now an award-winning
poet and avid reader of Christian Fiction, she has begun working on
several Christian Fiction titles of her own. Modeling after some of her
favorites, Sheila Copeland, Victoria Christopher Murray and Stephanie
Perry Moore, her goal is to entertain readers while encouraging and
uplifting, motivating and inspiring; attempting to direct readers down
the path that God paved for them a long time ago. Her desire is to give
readers real Christian characters with real challenges and emotions and
to show them that being a Christian is far from a walk in the park and
that it takes a great deal of patience, diligence, and most importantly
strength to walk the Christian walk.   

Currently, Cherita still resides in Chicago and attends Rivers of Living
Water Christian center under the spiritual tutelage of Pastor Linda M.
Requiliez where she is also a member of A.C.E., Acting Christians
Evangelizing, and starred in the sitcom “Saints” and the musical
mystery play, “A.D.I: Angel Development Institute.” And while she
continues to write poetry, she is working diligently to complete her
first of many Christian Fiction novels, where she fuses her gift of
writing with her life-long passion for basketball.