Circus Cannelloni Invades Britain follows the Cannelloni circus family as they take a much-needed vacation. What was the inspiration for your story?

After I had written the first Circus Cannelloni book, I felt that I had created an extraordinary world with its unique characters. I had spent so much time with that bunch of people that they had become my friends.

This circus crowd was so much alive to me that I almost believed it would continue living on in some imaginary world, even if I no longer wrote about them. So, I couldn’t just leave these circus people, as I wanted to be involved in their lives in the future, too. Besides, the circus is fun to travel with, wherever they go.

I simply couldn’t resist the temptation to place the events of the next book in unusual settings for circus people. So, I built an environment where special situations would make them use their abilities in surprising ways. I also created conflicts with traditions and these more free-spirited persons.

Traveling to the United Kingdom with my circus was already on my mind when I wrote the first Cannelloni book. I hinted at that as I described the friendship between the Cannellonis and a famous tennis master in connection with the charity performance. In this new book, I had a good reason to take the circus crowd to meet this tennis legend at his home. From there, my thoughts set off, and I began to maneuver my troops to face some famous events and traditions in Britain.

It was fun to contrast the atmosphere of the boarding school with the principles and behavior of the Cannelloni couple. There were many other inspiring confrontations; the clowns’ way to play tennis in Wimbledon, a circus rider’s wild race in Ascot, the circus director’s speech at a high-level academic seminar about his leadership practices.

In general, I find it inspiring to look at things from different perspectives. When we are traveling with Circus Cannelloni, there is an excellent opportunity for that!

Your characters all have unique names. How do you select the names of your characters?

Inventing names for the characters is a lot of fun. It is an opportunity to reveal something about the persons’ background, personality, or hidden features. It can also suggest something you can expect to happen later. The name may be practical, sophisticated, humorous, either compatible or inconsistent with the person. It can already tell you something about what’s coming. Maybe I’ll give you some examples.

The names of the Cannelloni family reflect their Italian origin – and point at the lovely Italian cuisine that nourishes both body and soul. The strongman’s name, Budo von Bismarck, carries some strength from “Iron Chancellor” from history, although Budo’s strength is much kinder and more cooperative. Snake woman, Cleopatra has a charm like her predecessor in Egypt. The boarding school headmistress Patricia Highhopes represents her school’s high goals for education. Some financial terms have influenced the name of the bank president Benjamin Everbond; and the snobbish professor Anthony Hemp-Nettles – well, he needs a snobbish name!

In Finland, we say that people cannot be judged by names unless they make themselves infamous. In my Circus Cannelloni books, the characters’ names are meant to be friendly little reminders about diversity and inclusion, too.

Will you be writing any more books about Circus Cannelloni?

I think it’s most probable. In any case, the Circus Canneloni lives its own life in the depths of my imagination, as if it were real. At some point, I will undoubtedly have an irresistible desire to jump on the road again with them.

Two exciting adventures are already tempting me as a writer. I can reveal that one might take place in the world of mass media and movies, and the other one in politics. And I can assure you that in both worlds, the circus crowd makes most unexpected things take place.

Besides, I have a big dream related to the Circus Cannelloni books. Right from the beginning, I’ve seen the stories just like movies in my mind. I’m probably crazy and trying to reach the skies, but I think these adventures would fit perfectly into films or animations. They would make awesome and kid-loved cartoons either as a movie or a series.

Like Madame Rosita, too, I want to think that nothing is impossible if you do your best and you can persuade others to join in!

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

This question makes me feel downright nostalgic. I have written a lot and for very different purposes during my life. As a child and young adult, I have written fairy tales, poems, and plays at school and in my free time, too. I also sent my texts to a local magazine. When the other pupils complained about the difficulty of getting started and the dread of a blank paper, I was full of enthusiasm for every new writing task. There were years when I also wrote several pages in my diary every single day.

Then came the time for my law studies and various tasks in the business world, and I had to write a lot of important and impressive texts. There were also years when I wrote my doctor’s thesis in law. All these were, of course, quite different things compared to fairy tales.

I freed myself from previous professional constraints when I dedicated myself to storybooks a dozen years ago. With my imagination, I threw myself back into the same freedom I felt as a child.

At times, I still ponder what I would have accomplished as a children’s writer if I had started earlier in that field. But I’ve realized, however, that all those years of working with other things were necessary. I needed to face all those assignments and take care of various writing tasks to develop as a person and a writer.

Those were the years for preparing to become an author. Without that exercise and accumulated experience, I wouldn’t write in the same way as now. I hope my books reflect something about a lifelong effort as an avid reader, writer, legal scholar, business executive, mother, wife, and grandmother, too.

To my younger self, I would say: Be patient! Take good care of every writing task that comes your way and keep on writing various texts. All this experience is useful when you write stories for the children later!

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