Where did you get the idea for Mikolay & Julia books?

[Magda]

I started thinking about writing children books & stories right after I had my son.

[Claude]

Same here! I wrote a children's book - THE ADVENTURES OF GUENDOLYN AND CASIMIR - after having my children!
Guendolyn was modeled after my daughter and Casimir after my son. The book is a wild series of adventures with a Blue Rabbit working his magic and saving the kids from all sorts of disasters, the first one when they get lost in a hidden kingdom under Mount Etna, the famous big volcano in Sicily...The book was published in Italian by a Roman publisher back in 1991 and met with a big critical success and I won three important prizes! I was so happy, I thought I had it made then...my publisher went bankrupt and the book was never distributed anywhere! Argh!

Oh, well, I got back my rights of course and perhaps one day I'll re-publish those adventures in English...

[Heather]

Mikolay is named after your son, but what about Julia? The name also appears in a short story you wrote and published on your website. I'm curious to know more about what inspired your character's and their names.

[Magda]

Claude wrote: "Same here! I wrote a children's book - THE ADVENTURES OF GUENDOLYN AND CASIMIR - after having my children!
Guendolyn was modeled after my daughter and Casimir after my son. The book is a wild serie..."

I would love to read it. Sound like an amazing story.
It must have been a fantastic feeling to win all the awards.
Sorry to hear about your problems with the publisher :(
But thank God you managed to get your rights back.

This is just amazing you can write in English & Italian & ...

[Magda]

Heather wrote: "Mikolay is named after your son, but what about Julia? The name also appears in a short story you wrote and published on your website. I'm curious to know more about what inspired your character'..."

Yes, Mikolay is my son's name. Julia I love the name & I'm also one of those people who keeps using the same names if I like it :)