The Befana Drama
The Befana Drama is truly box office, as it is written in a very cinematic fashion, with each scene being almost something you would see on the big screen in a Disney or Dreamworks movie. It is full of mirth, magic and mayhem and is a global adventure by broomstick, which is based on Italy's traditional present bringer, The Befana, and the Italian tradition surrounding her. However, the book gives that tradition a whole new dimension and twist, revitalising the wart-ridden witch and transforming her into a cooler and younger witch called 'Bef', who charges up her broomstick with tuber power (potatoes) and charges around the world on hearing that her Christmas postbox is being sealed up and her precious Befana Festival downsized, because Santa is now more popular in Italy than she is. As her rage sends candy balls bouncing down the streets of her medieval village, she heads to Dubai to find the descendants of The Three Wise Men, to call in a favour centuries old. There she discovers they are a boy band called 'The Three Kings', who can assist her plans in various ways. She then has to visit Old Father Time, to rejuvenate and become Bef, thus acquiring a great disguise. More frighteningly, she has to get her broom adapted, so she can carry enough coal and candy to visit every child in the world, which means facing 'The Most Fearsome Feller in Folklore', the broom adaptation artisan, Bernhardt Bürstenfrisür, who dwells in the Black Forest. Luckily, she has Gaspar with her and having escaped Bernhardt, with his help, she encounters a few more foe and some decidedly sticky situations in a coalmine and candy factory, before recruiting the help of an exiled-to-Siberia tailor and 'the best reindeer whisperer the world has ever seen'. Having whizzed through Germany, Russia, the USA and Iceland, she arrives in Lapland to discover that her real enemy is Santa's shopaholic wife, Capriccia - a very vain and highly-strung diva with a five-storey Casa of Contentments. She and the 81st elf are out to foil 'Bef', but who will win? I shan't tell you here, but it's a very thrilling story.
This is your second novel, so what can you tell us about your first Caught Napping?
Caught Napping is absolutely nothing like The Befana Drama. It is a book about a teenage boy called Jonathan Jinks, who has a few issues in his personal life, which result in him not sitting his A Levels. Instead, he takes a part-time job in a newsagent's and starts walking a dog for an elderly lady. One evening, the dog disappears in the woods and he finds himself at the centre of a dognapping mystery. He's determined to solve the mystery and find not only his dog, but others that have also mysteriously vanished or been stolen. This book is hugely topical, as dognapping is a growing crime the world over and there are several twists as Jonathan attempts to solve the crime, which will have young readers wondering what the outcome will be. I think it's a great way to start children down the route of reading detective novels and ideal for any family that loves dogs.
What is the appeal of writing for children for you?
Using the imagination, being weird, whacky and wonderful, thinking outside of the box and tapping in to the inner child within me! I find it really exhilarating, but also very relaxing. I got a real buzz out of The Befana Drama and can't wait to write the sequel. I've also found it really enjoyable writing a KS2 education pack to sit alongside the book, as I had to explore the world of education. I've made the pack free for download www.thebefanadrama.co.uk so that teachers can use the book in school. The book is also global in its appeal, so I'm finding it enormously satisfying to see it written about in New Zealand or trending in Dubai! I have plans afoot to promote it in the USA and have Italians the world over raving about it and thinking that it's wonderful that I've taken the figure of The Befana and given her such a new life. This means a lot to me.
How much has your MA in history aided your writing?
I don't think it has really! However, the idea for The Befana Drama came to me while sitting in my A' Level Italian class on a dark November evening, when I was daydreaming and staring out of the window. We weren't talking about The Befana, but I somehow started thinking about her and that's where the seed of the plot emerged. I'd always wanted to think of a story that would be as big as the one in The Befana Drama and hopefully I've succeeded, so I'm glad I wasn't concentrating on conjugating verbs that night!
You are a multi award winning PR professional, so please tell us about this area of your life.
I run my own PR company, Catapult PR, based in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire and, as you say, have won many awards - I think it's 23 to date - and numerous runners-up awards. I work with clients large and small, based all over the country and do a lot of my PR work in the fields of tourism, financial services, retail & food. My PR experience has been instrumental in being able to promote The Befana Drama. When I won the national Chartered Institute of Public Relations Award for 'Best Freelance PR Practitioner' in 2012, I also wrote an autobiographical account of my weird and wonderful life in PR. That book is called 'Rogue Elephants: One PR Girl's Fight Through the Human Jungle'. I think that promoting books could become a new line for Catapult!
Why is it important to have a Christmas read?
The Befana Drama isn't just a Christmas read and, as it features a witch, it's going down well for Halloween. However, it does have a strong Christmas theme, which the sequel won't really have. I think Christmas is a time when parents should be able to find time to read their kids a story and The Befana Drama is absolutely ideal for that. I have tried to make it fun for parents to read, with different accents to use for the larger-than-life characters and some elements (mainly irony) that perhaps only parents will understand, so they get their own enjoyment out of it. I like to call it the Bef-time story experience! I am embarking on a Befana Drama Giro-Rama book signing tour shortly, visiting schools, shopping centres, visitor attractions and Christmas fairs. I have to deliver some storytelling sessions, so I shall make sure I use all the accents I can and engage the children. I think the book's ideal for parents and kids to share in this way. The biggest buzz I've had so far was a five-star review from a Mum and nine-year-old daughter. The Mum said the book was "Brilliant" and said they were reading it together, but the daughter couldn't put it down and kept reading ahead without Mum! That made me so happy!
What is Christmas like in your house?
I usually go to my parent’s house. My father is really in to Christmas, so the house is decorated in an absolutely magical fashion. I think The Befana Drama owes a lot to him, as when I was six or seven and my sister was a baby at home with my mother, he would take me out on Saturdays to watch the latest Disney film release at the Odeon in Blackpool. I can vividly remember going to see The Jungle Book one Saturday afternoon and was so excited having seen it. I think a lot of this experience underpins The Befana Drama, but it also draws on a visit to Lapland that I made with my son and parents when my son was six and one that we made as a family to Disneyland in California when I was 19. My mother had won a competition and we had a behind-the-scenes look at the Disney Studios as VIP guests. I think I realised then that my ultimate goal was to write something that could be termed "very Disney".
Who do you most like to read at this time of year?
Gift catalogues! Actually, I'm a big fan of Ruth Rendell, so can't wait to read her new book. I have to read quite a few Italian books as homework in my Italian class and I'm also desperate to read a book that's come out about Pablo Neruda, upon whom the Italian film 'Il Postino' was based.
What is next for you?
The Befana Drama's sequel! I'm planning to get it out by Easter 2014, so watch this space. Now's the time to read The Befana Drama and #befriendBef as then you will know the background to the next book, which will include some of the characters from The Befana Drama, with some new ones thrown in for good measure! Not 100% sure what to call it, but plans are formulating in my mind and it will definitely continue the story of Bef in unexpected, thrilling and action-packed ways.I would also love to be able to sign books in some of the locations mentioned - Chicago, Washington, Dubai &, of course, Urbania & Urbino in Italy, which is where the real Befana festival takes place each year, although I don't mention the towns by name in the book. My dearest wish, of course, would be for the book to become a film and realise my dream ... who knows ...maybe one day. As Walt Disney said (and I've had this on my laptop as a stickie for 15+ years) "If you dream it, you can do it".