Manuela Santoni

Manuela Santoni is an illustrator and a cartoonist living in Fonte Nuova in Rome, Italy. Passionate about graphic novels and comics, Santoni works as a freelancer, creates books for children, and publishes her online comic Nowhere Fast at Verticomics.

Interview

What was your favorite book when you were a child?

Goosebumps

What’s your favorite line from a book?

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.”

Who are your top three favorite authors or illustrators?

Manuele Fior, Cyrl Pedrosa, Craig Thompson

Why did you want to become an author or illustrator?

I have always loved reading. Books helped me to develop fantasy and creativity, and this allowed me to transform the images I had in my head onto the paper.

Do you have any advice for future authors or illustrators?

Follow your dreams.