Interviews

Interview with Timo Parvela by Maria Laakso

Many parents who read to their children know that your books are loved by children and adults alike. What kind of reader do you have in mind when you write?

As a matter of fact, I don’t think much about the reader when I write. I’ve found that as soon as I try to please someone other than myself, my own voice starts to fade, and I get it wrong. So, as I weave the stories, I can only keep myself in mind, hoping that someone else will be inspired by the result. So far, my method has worked well.

You’ve enjoyed a long career as a children’s author. How have you been able to stay in touch with your changing readership over the years? Have you planted spies into schools and playgrounds?

Hah, maybe I should recruit some child whisperers. Then again… maybe not. I’ve long since abandoned the idea that I should know everything about the everyday reality in which children live today. I write fiction, which means I can determine the laws and realities inside the story world. On the other hand, I don’t think the personality of children (or grown-ups) has changed enough over the years to keep me from writing about grief, joy, and friendship the way I’ve always done. I don’t even attempt to keep my finger on the pulse of the times, and fortunately, a long career will bring with it perspective; many of the trends are fleeting. I try to make every book I write a classic, and it calls for avoiding trends, themes, and topics that quickly become obsolete.

You don’t avoid serious themes in your books, but you always address them in a safe and gentle way. Do you think there are topics unsuitable for young audiences?

I’ve sat on countless international panels, talking about “taboos in children’s literature.” For some reason, the participants have always been from the Nordic coun tries, and with furrowed brows, we’ve tried to think of something we couldn’t write about. It would probably be difficult to find anything that would lead to a publisher’s refusal or society’s ostracism. However, there are still some taboos as far as ways to handle the topics. It could be challenging to write a children’s book where the bad guy or antagonist is disabled, an immigrant, or another member of a minority. On the other hand, I’ve recently seen several Swedish TV shows, where they’ve done exactly that – and why not?

In the course of your career, countless social changes and current affairs events have brought insecurity into the world of children. How have these changes influenced your writing?

My books are actually written by two different characters. There’s Timo the entertainer, who remembers from his childhood the delightful, funny, and enjoyable comic books and novels, which made time fly (while also making him a good reader). I find it extremely rewarding to write a humorous story with drama on the side.

The other Timo feels anxiety over the various challenges of today. For example, I’ve written about the dying out of small-town schools, bullying, and the fragmentation of the world. In my Shadows trilogy I explore the hatred that leads to war, the war itself, and the love that heals.

Many topics have influenced me, but my age, experience, and changes in my own life have naturally prompted the more serious books like Kepler62, Mission Nearly Impossible, and Shadows. It’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two.

Your books contain a lot of humour. How do you come up with all the jokes and funny twists for your stories? And do you giggle out loud as you write the Pete series, for example?

For me, the construction of humour is serious work. I might spend a long time deciding on the correct word order in a line, to resolve a situation in the funniest possible way. The best twists surprise even me. When I don’t know in the previous paragraph what’s coming three sentences down the line, I know the reader will be surprised, too. I write most of my stories as if I were walking in an unfamiliar forest. I study the terrain, the paths, and the views and try to choose the most interesting direction, while keeping track of where I’m coming from and where I’m headed. It’s a fairly challenging way to write, to sort of start from scratch each morning. But it’s worked for me. And yes, now and then, a character in my books will pull something that makes me burst out laughing. An example comes to mind in Ella and Friends in Party Mood, where an elephant poops in the schoolyard, and the teacher mistakes the pile for the craft clay he’s ordered. For some reason, it still makes me laugh. But perhaps I’m revealing too much of my mental state…

In your stories, there is always strength in numbers. Do you believe children’s literature can foster a sense of community, and perhaps help eradicate bullying in schools?

I believe that children’s literature could have a much greater social impact than it does today. Unfortunately, we have a long tradition in Finland of a kind of authorized neglect of children. In the seventies, they were referred to as “latchkey kids.” They were children with house keys hung around the neck, because there was no one waiting for them at home after school. People were proud of this – that our children were so independent. We have the same attitude toward children’s culture. People think it can manage on its own, and that there’s not much need to address it in the public debate. If a fiction author writes a book about bullying, it may get attention in public discussions. But dozens and dozens of children’s or young adult books written on the same topic will never generate an empowering buzz. I believe that the stories can mean a lot on a personal level – for example, to a victim of bullying – but unfortunately, I don’t see children’s books changing the structures of the current climate.

Environmentalism is one of the recurring themes in your books. What do nature and the environment mean to you as a writer? Are they particularly important themes for children in a time of climate change?

I live among nature; I spend my winters in the countryside and summers on an island in the middle of a lake, with no electricity or running water. I feel the healing power of the forest and breathe in tune with it. I want the upcoming generations to learn to appreciate the deep connection with nature that we Finns have. I want them to be able to enjoy it the way I have done.

When I was a child, I received an ecology book as a present. It delivered such a distressing message about the world’s pollution, I couldn’t sleep well for a year. The anxiety brought on by the book did nothing to inspire me for action; it simply paralyzed me. I am of course concerned about the state of the world and want the theme reflected in my books. But the experience in my childhood taught me to approach the subject in a way that gives hope for the better and provides very concrete steps to take.

You have created an extensive body of work. Can you reveal the secret of your productivity? Do you ever find time for sleep?

I’ve been taking naps since I was fifteen…

I write two pages a day – rarely more, and never less. I work on weekdays during the Finnish school year, from mid-August to the end of May, or approximately 180 workdays. In that time, I produce approximately 360 pages. With one children’s book manuscript containing 40–70 pages, I’ll have enough material for four or five books a year. I don’t write more than, say, a crime novelist, who writes a book a year, but I’ll divide the same amount of text into several smaller chunks. In fact, I’d be worried if I could only put together one book of forty pages in a year. My secret is that there is no secret. I simply work at it daily.

What are the genres you have written? Is there a genre you haven’t done yet, but might be tempted to give it a try?

Well, I’ve written a novel, a non-fiction book, children’s novels, picture books, comic scripts, a video game script, radio plays, stage plays, film scripts, television series for adults and children, parodies, columns, song lyrics … Oh, yes, the first collection I sent to a publisher was children’s poetry, but I’ve never published a book of poetry, nor am I likely to do so.

I’ve sometimes thought it would be interesting to write a really bloody and nasty crime novel. Having read Jo Nesbø’s work, however, I’ve realized that road would quickly come to an end; if a story must continually up the ante in order to satisfy the reader, violence will eventually become meaningless. So, maybe something gentle and full of ambience.

Your stories live outside of the covers, as well. Where have your characters ended up? How does it feel, as an author, to see your stories on stage, for example?

I’ve lost track of the number of theatre adaptations of my books. Dozens have been done in Finland, but many abroad, as well: in Germany, Poland, and Hungary, for example. The Ella & Friends books have been made into two films, and the Purdy & Barker books into two television series – one of which was a Christmas calendar I produced for the Finnish Broad casting Company (YLE). I count audiobooks in the same class of adaptations as the above-mentioned. Nearly all of my books have been made into audiobooks in Finland, and all of the German Ella & Friends audiobooks have been extremely popular with millions of listens.

For me, the form of literary presentation closest to my heart is reading the books aloud. Regrettably, we hold very few public readings here in Finland, but in Central Europe they are very popular. That’s why I developed a Story Concert, where I read aloud my books, and actors and musicians enrich the experience with drama and song. It’s amazing to see an entire audience at Helsinki Music Centre, for example, sit in silence, listening to someone read them a story. We’ve been touring Finland with the Story Concert for over ten years, performing in the largest children’s cultural arenas.

As an author, you’ve also done a lot of charity work. Please tell us a little about your cooperation with UNICEF, for example.

I received the Children’s Rights Influencer Award from UNICEF Finland. It was a great honour as it’s not often given to an individual, as the recipients are usually various organizations. I think it’s great that the importance and role of children’s literature have been acknowledged so well by Unicef. Working with Unicef and for their objectives has been important to me in recent years, as I’ve been able to use my skills for the common good. I was invited by Unicef to visit Sierra Leone and was deeply touched by the people’s sense of hope and their quest for a better future. The trip sparked a desire to help, and at my suggestion, Unicef is launching a project to bring children’s literature to Sierra Leone, a country where there is none.

I also believe in the healing power of children’s literature in my project that brings Ella & Friends books translated into Ukrainian to Ukranian refugee children in Finland. Those children have brought with them their most precious possession, their mother tongue, and nurturing it is so important in a foreign environment. Besides, the Ella & Friends books are stories about Finland, and especially of schools in Finland, which the refugee children also attend. I hope I can in some small way be part of helping these children in their stories of survival.

You have readers in many countries. Do you find you must take into account cultural differences as you write? For example, do you need to stay away from describing Finnish sauna culture?

If I remember correctly, out of the hundreds of books I’ve written, only one has a sauna scene. In Ansa and Oiva in the Big City, the then-president Halonen takes a sauna, and the book’s illustrator Mika Launis even made a funny illustration of it.

Among the hundreds of translations of my books, I can only recall one time where I had to change something due to cultural issues. In Ella in the Theatre, the children put on a Nativity play at the school Christmas assembly. This simply didn’t work in France, where religion is not allowed in schools. The translation was about to be dropped, until I thought to change the play. In the French version, Ella and her friends perform the play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

I’m now in a position where the translation rights to my books may have been sold to several countries before I’ve even written the book. It doesn’t necessarily affect the way I write, but I’ll take it into account in some minor choices. For example, if the main characters play a sport, I may choose football over ice hockey, because football is more widely known and more popular. However, I believe that it is our Finnish particularities which interest readers, no matter where they live. My theory is supported by the many students of the Finnish language I’ve met in Germany and Poland, for example. They’ve told me one of the things that inspired them to study Finnish was reading Ella books when they were kids.

How do you see the status of children’s literature today? In what ways has it changed during your career as a writer?

Stories protect the child. They provide a refuge, when the child feels anxious, or when life doesn’t make sense. Every child should have a protective castle made with the stones and mortar of stories and fairytales. It’s our job as adults to build the castle. It’s the central task of children’s literature, if we want to assign it a role. However, children’s literature is, can be, and has the right to be without agenda for education or moral content.

I think the potential of children’s literature goes unrecognized in our time. I fear that the rise of audiobooks only escalates the situation, where children’s literature disappears to the back of the closet, inside headphones. Parents, adults, and influencers may think that it can manage on its own – like a child with a key hung around its neck. Or worse, they may not even give it a second thought.