Simona draws and writes books for kids
Née Simona Garelli, she got her degree in Business Administration from Bocconi with a thesis on banking in 1993. As Simona Zampa, between 2007 and 2008 she drew, wrote, and published three illustrated books for children, all revolving around the Krapizs, a family resembling her onw. The latest in the series, Il signor Krapiz e i suoi alberi, (Mr Krapiz and his trees) gave her notoriety in Canton Ticino, Italian-speaking Switzerland, where she now lives, with newspaper reviews and an appearance on Swiss TV. Also the environmental organization For Planet appreciated her work.
Simona, a thin woman like her characters with the patience of a mother of four (from one to seven years of age) has led a double life since she was a student. During her days she attended classes at Bocconi, during her evenings she attended drawing classes at Istituto Cimabue. After she graduated, she took positions with Bank of America and later Merrill Lynch, interspersed by a Banca d'Italia grant, at the end of which she refused a post in the financial oversight division. Although her talent for finance was undisputable, during the evenings spent waiting for the Wall Street closing before he computer screen, she found the time to write "some sort of graphic novel".
In 2002, she moves from London to Lugano, where her husband has established a hedge fund, where she also works, before deciding that kids and finance do not mix. After leaving the world of financial markets, Simona founds, as well as manages for three years, the Lugano chapter of the school La nuova musica.
"In the meantime", she says, "I found fun in spinning and drawing kid stories, small caricatures of dad, make Christmas cards." In 2008, everything accelerates in her life, as one of the greeting cards ends up in the hands of Milanese publisher, who appreciates it and contacts her. An exhibit of her drawings in Zurich and the accompanying texts, put in rhyme by Valentina Fioruzzi, will end up as her first book Il signor Krapiz e il silenzio, (Mr Krapiz and Silence), in which she tries to explain to kids the world of grownups. She signs the book with her married name, Zampa, because she is used after years of marriage for people to call her that way, but especially because it's a perfect last name to communicate with little kids.
Her last two book are written, as well as drawn, fully by her. Simona writes having a child reading with his or her parent in mind, so there is a second level of understanding for adults, who are better able than children to appreciate certain details. Children's publishing is a very competitive industry, but remains thus far unaffected by the crisis, because the attention to the education of kids has grown in parent's minds and thus more books are purchased. Simona's style seeks simplicity and clarity "I would just like that a basic idea stuck in the minds of kids, before getting asleep after reading an adventure of Mr Krapiz, how the world of grownups works in the first book, the refusal of consumerims in Il signor Krapiz e il Natale (Mr Krapiz and Christams) and environmentalism in the latest one".