Recently, Marianna Coppo, author and illustrator of Kate Greenaway Medal nominee Petra, replies to questions asked by students at Storyland!
Not only did she write a tailored answer in response to every student’s question, she even drew an illustrated postcard for every one.
Watch the video below to see the adorable questions asked by kids at Storyland and the equally adorable response from Marianna:
The kids were thrilled to have received a response from one of their favourite book authors. Some of them even recreated story characters from the postcards!
In our little interview together, Marianna shared with us why she wanted to connect with kids at Storyland in China and what she enjoyed the most about this project.
Storyland x Marianna Coppo
Storyland: Why did you want to connect with kids at Storyland through the form of postcard drawing? What did you enjoy the most in the process of this project?
MC: First of all, thank you for this opportunity, I am really happy to be able to contact children so far from home! Initially I was asked to have a chat on the radio. Unfortunately I am rather shy, even when I speak in my language (Italian), let alone in English! So I thought of communicating with children through the medium that is most congenial to me, that is, images and the written word.
Storyland: What did you enjoy the most in the process of this project?
MC: The entire process was so interesting for me, I don’t often get to communicate directly with my readers! I loved reading their questions and thinking of a specific answer for each one!
Storyland: Was there a question from our kids that surprised you or that you really enjoyed answering?
MC: I loved all the children’s messages, they always ask very difficult questions, straight to the point of things, adults rarely ask questions like these! I loved also the attention of detail in the books, a little girl asked me why in two of my books one of the characters wore red glasses, I had absolutely not noticed! My favorite question anyway is still Hippo’s question, who asked me just what I liked to eat, and I love to eat!
Storyland: How much time did you spend on average on each postcard? What medium did you use?
MC: It depends about the drawing itself, I think it took me about an hour for each one, but I had to think a lot about how to answer some questions, especially the more abstract ones. For example, they asked me why I had written a particular book, it is difficult to answer, but I wanted the children to have replied honest and understandable at the same time. To other questions I preferred to answer in a more playful way, such as those about glasses or why Ray’s character is called this way! (I took out his grandfather, an oil lamp also named Ray!)
About the medium, I mainly used tempera and colored pencils!
Storyland: Have you ever had the chance to connect with an artist/author when you were little?
MC: Uhm, It occurs to me that once I sent a letter to “Birillo” a little robot star of a television program for children. I had sent him a letter with a battery attached, I thought he might like it. He never answered me (really? Eheh) but even just sending it had excited me a lot, so I think I would have loved a project like this!
Storyland: What is one piece of advice in terms of writing or creating you wish you had received before starting on your first book, Petra?
MC: I was very lucky, and I felt supported from the start in taking this path.
I think a good piece of advice I would have liked to have received would have been not to take criticism personally and have a lot of patience!
We feel grateful that Marianna was able to take her time and effort to connect with students at Storyland in such a meaningful and creative way. Thank you!
Storyland 