Elbakin.net Prize 2024: Interview with Davide Morosinotto

After Full Sky at the start of the week, it is now the turn of our winner of the Elbakin.net 2024 prize for best translated youth fantasy novel to reveal himself a little more! His brilliant novel The Largest unreservedly won over the enthusiasm of the jury. Its author, Davide Morosinotto, answered questions from our award interview ! Thanks to him, to his agent Rosamaria Pavan and to the École des Loisirs editions.

Discuss The Largest on the forum

The interview

You have already published around fifty children’s Books, around ten of which have been translated into French. Except The Largest of course, which ones would you recommend to our readers to discover your work?

This is a difficult question, because more than books, it depends on the tastes of who reads them. Of course, I have a lot of affection for the one I call the trilogy of rivers : three novels which tell completely different and autonomous stories, but which have a common thread which unites them. These are The Famous Walker & Dawn Catalog, The Dazzling Light of the Two Red Stars et The Lost Flower of the K Shaman. (In France, these three novels are available as The Largest published by L’École des Loisirs, translation by Marc Lesage, Editor’s note).

How would you present The Largest to someone who hasn’t yet had the chance to read it?

You knew that the greatest pirate in the history of humanity was a Chinese girl who, at a very young age, went so far as to command a fleet of more than three hundred ships, and who became so powerful that she even threatened the emperor? This is his story.

What did you particularly like about the historical character of Ching Shih, on whom your heroine is inspired? Have you researched a lot about her and her times?

I did a lot of research, quite maniacally… every time in the novel I mention a street, it really existed, and more or less as I describe it. I have to say though that the historical figure of Ching Shih wasn’t that important to me. Piracy, in reality, is a rather violent and brutal affair. Like martial arts, for example. What interested me was the way poetry can transform this into magic where we can run on water and challenge each other with waves of energy. I didn’t want real pirates, in short… I wanted a dream. I wanted to One Piece.

The heroine, Shi Yu, is not always likeable; she never doubts her victory and is sometimes cruel and merciless. That’s why we love him, but is it complicated to write a novel for children centered on such a morally ambiguous character?

I have to tell the truth: this novel was incredibly easy to write. That is to say, I took a lot of time, about three years, to study China, its stories and myths. But afterwards, when I sat down at my computer to start writing the book in earnest, I didn’t have a very clear idea of ​​the story… I knew Shi Yu was going to be the greatest, I didn’t know how she would get there. And she sat down next to me, she smiled at me, she told me You don’t know how you become a pirate, but I do. It was she who took command of history, she who decided everything. I just followed her.

Could you tell us about your current projects or your upcoming releases? Perhaps new translations planned in French?

Books are a long process that requires a lot of patience. So there’s always a good bit of time between when I actually work on a story and when it then reaches readers. Currently, I am writing a new book which will be set in New York and, if all goes well and I manage to finish it, will be released in Italy mid or end of 2025. Which means it will arrive in France around 2027, I believe. In March next year, on the other hand, will appear at home The Fear of the Lion (I don’t know the French title yet) (literally the fear of the lionNDT), a very special book that I wrote with my sister. Chiara is an expert animal behavior scientist.
In the book we talk a little about his research and how fear, which makes us just… afraid, is actually very important for maintaining the balance of nature.

Would you like to send a message to our readers who are not yet convinced that it is absolutely necessary to discover The Largest ? Or to those who would have loved it?

I am a writer professional for a long time, and as you said at the beginning of this interview, I have written a lot of books. If you ask me to choose one and only one, I will say The Largest. I don’t know if it’s more successful or better than the others, but the truth is that it was written during a particularly dark and hard time in my life, and Shi Yu’s strength helped me to escape from my worries. This is what, in my opinion, stories succeed in doing from time to time. So I hope you like it, or that it can give you a helping hand too!

Thank you for answering our questions!

Comments collected and translated by Izareyael