Author of ‘The absolutely true story of La Befana’- a creative, playful spin on a traditional 6th January Italian tale
Welcome back to self-promo Friday! This is a very special week for us. Not only this is our first post of the year, but we have the absolute pleasure to introduce Paolo Mazzucato, American author, playwright and screenwriter. Paolo is also author/illustrator of the most amazing children’s books, and that’s what we’d like to focus on today.
We recently had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his latest creation, ‘The absolutely true story of La Befana’. Here’s what he told us:
WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT?
The story of La Befana is a traditional Italian tale. But unlike the version that casts her as a “Christmas witch”, in this tale she is a kindly, old grandmother who, like all good Italian nonnas, wants to see
everyone well fed and taken care of. So, on the eve of the Christmas Epiphany, this old woman invites three, weary travellers into her home for a warm bowl of minestrone, because everyone likes a good bowl of soup, right? Well, it so happens that they’re some sort of “wise men” searching for a newborn savior-type baby. They want her to come along, but she’s busy, you know, so they go on their way. Later, the old woman regrets her decision, so she heads out into the night with her trusty donkey, but, she never finds them or the baby. On her way home though, she leaves little gifts of dried fruits and nuts in the shoes outside of every home where a child may be.
“And like a knock on the door, her example invites each of us to open our hearts and share in the joy of the season, when every, little gesture of kindness becomes a gift as precious as gold.”
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT YOUR STORY?
‘The absolutely true story of La Befana’ is a playful reimagining of a traditional, Italian story. It takes a light-hearted tone with a distinctly Italian flavour to set out the origins of a Christmas classic.
WHERE CAN OUR READERS FIND YOU?
My Website: http://www.writer.mazzucato.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mazzucatobooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paolo_mazzucato
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mazzucato_stories
A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT PAOLO AND HIS WORK
Paolo Mazzucato is an American fiction author and screenwriter. He began his writing career as a Chicago playwright and award-winning student filmmaker before moving to Los Angeles where he won awards for screenwriting and scripted various projects for film and television in addition to writing several children’s, middle grade and young adult books.
Mazzucato is the author/illustrator of the children’s books, Dream of the Rainbow Unicorn, No One Mocks a Panda (an Amazon #1 Best Seller, Feb. 2019), A Most Curious Winter’s Night and The absolutely true story of La Befana. He is also the author of the fantasy adventure novel, The Gondoliers: The Secret Journals of Fanticulous Glim, a “recommended” read by the US Review of Books.
Books by Paolo Mazzucato are available at http://www.bepibooks.com/index.html as well as on Amazon https://amzn.to/3GKQmwZ
