Every now and then we take someone from our branches – an author, illustrator, graphic designer, editor or project manager – and lock them up in the BOT Room for an informal chat! Today it's Matilde Tacchini's turn...
[Interview by Davide Calì]
Matilde, CARO BAMBINO (DEAR CHILD) is your first picture book and it comes out at Christmas! How nervous are you on a scale from one to a thousand?
I would say nine hundred and ninety-nine. While working on this first book, I discovered that the process for getting a book published is very long and with many intermediate steps, so when the fateful day arrives, it almost doesn’t seem like it’s real. After almost a year of revisions, emails and drafts, part of me is already thinking about new projects, and I thought I’d already overcome the jittery first-book phase. But now that the fateful day is approaching, I think that when I see Dear Child physically in the bookshop, I will feel faint. I will bring smelling salts with me, like the ladies of the nineteenth century.
In your book you reverse roles a bit: it’s not the child who writes to Father Christmas, but the opposite. How long did you believe in Father Christmas for? And what would you have done if you’d received such a letter?
Who said Father Christmas doesn’t exist? I still write him a letter every year: in the last one I asked him to let me publish a book. I expect he’ll write to me soon to congratulate me!
Joking aside, I remember perfectly when the idea for the book was born, it was an afternoon and my son asked me if we could write Father Christmas a letter… but it was still September! He caught me so off guard that at that moment I thought “Poor Father Christmas, does he never get tired?” And from there the roles were reversed: instead of focusing on our wishes, I thought about what Father Christmas had to tell us.
How did you work with the illustrator Raffaella Bolaffio?
Working with Raffaella was a wonderful experience. In this book the narration is totally in synergy with the images, the book wouldn’t stand up with the text alone the book. Raffaella immediately understood the spirit of the story and we often discussed how to make the text and images work together harmoniously. Raffaella not only managed to put my ideas on paper, she added lots of elements that made the story even funnier and more entertaining. She was really great (and very patient!).
Is there a Father Christmas or a Christmas story in literature which you’re still fond of?
I don’t have a specific Christmas story or Father Christmas I’m attached to. I have always loved the atmosphere of Christmas: I like the decorations, the afternoons playing board games, the presents under the tree and the house being invaded by people of all ages. As a child, my dream was to find the golden ticket to get into the chocolate factory, so if I had to choose my own Father Christmas, I would like him to be like Willy Wonka. Sometimes a bit polemical, every so often politically incorrect, but someone who loves sweets and children and is always sincere.
You can find Dear Child on the publisher’s website.
Follow Matilde Tacchini on her Facebook and Instagram profiles.