Katja Alves and Martin Fontanellaz
Photo: Anita Affentranger
Born in Coimbra, Portugal, and raised in Switzerland, Katja Alves has worked as a bookseller, concert organiser, journalist, columnist, player finder, input specialist and radio editor. She regularly writes radio plays for SRF radio. Today she works mainly as a children’s book author, editor and project manager. She writes theatre, radio plays, read-aloud stories and children’s novels, gives writing workshops and regularly leads further education courses on children's books as a lecturer. Katja Alves lives with her family in Zurich.
Photo: Elite Fotostudio Bern
Martin Fontanellaz (*1992) grew up in Ittigen near Bern. His literary debut, the children's book ‘Weihnachtswarm’, was published by Blaukreuzverlag in autumn 2023. His next release, ‘Samuela Klaus – die erste Weihnachtsfrau’, is already in the works. This children’s book about the understanding of roles will be published by Helvetia Verlag in October 2024. As a social pedagogue, Fontanellaz wants not only to entertain but also to convey essential educational aspects and important values. The Bernese writer who refuses to be pinned down to one genre published two short stories in an anthology in spring 2024. Fontanellaz also maintains several thousand followers with his poetry project @schere_stein_herz on Instagram.
Project
Picture book story ‘Kolby, die Regenbogenmacherin’
This story, which I'm privileged to be writing with Katja, is about a community of goblins and their special gift of creating rainbows. The goblin girl Kolby has her very own idea of what her rainbows should look like.
So now I get to work with Katja Alves on this story until it reaches its full potential.
However, writing is only one part of the author’s work. Other important aspects include conceptualising, revising, finding a suitable publishing house and placement.
I made it this far without any contacts in the book industry. Now, while I'm still at the very beginning of my career as an author, it means a lot to me to have a great and experienced writer like Katja Alves by my side as a confidante and mentor!
I’m really looking forward to the mentoring programme and I'm sure that it will result in a unique book.
