What is the best thing that I love about my work?
The best thing about my work is creating stories that people will empathize with. When you write a story, you will start asking yourself “About what wanna I talk about?”. I search the topic inside me, inside my feelings. I decide to write, for example, about my anger, or the way I love someone. After I’ve found it, I can write about anything, In this way, I can talk about any unknown world and people will still empathize with the topic.

What is my idea of happiness?
My idea of happiness is a quiet day when the temperature outside is mild and sunny, with a home cooked meal made by the person I love.

What is my greatest fear?
What I fear the most is losing my loved ones. I’m not really scared about my own death, but I’m terrified thinking about the hypothetical departed of my fiancé, my best friend or my parents.

What is the trait that I most deplore in myself?
I struggle a lot expressing my anger! For a long time I was scared to say “no”, because I didn’t want to be a problem for the people around me. Now I’m trying to correct this habit of mine and make people hear my voice even when it’s not calm and compliant.

Which living persons in my profession do i most admire?
One name: Daniel Pennac! With his books, He taught me all the good I know about writing techniques and how much is important to love your work and the art of writing. For the same reasons, I admire a lot Davìd Rubín, a spanish comic book artist. He made a book named “The hero” that taught me A LOT about storytelling and the language of comics.

What is my greatest extravagance?
When people ask me how I write dialogues, I said that I put down what the voices in my head said. I know it’s creepy! But every character in my mind has a specific tone of voice that I’ve imagined as long as his/her personality. So, when I’ve got all clear, characters will start to talk automatically!

On what occasion would I lie?
To protect someone/myself, or to keep a secret, specially when it’s not mine.

What is the thing that I dislike the most in my work?
The comic book environment here in Italy. Everyone is friend with everyone, people talk and rumors are constantly running. It’s not a easy environment for a reserved person, ahaha! Also, I feel like there are still a lot of prejudices about women making comics, even if here in Italy we’ve got some amazing girl making great art!

When and where was I the happiest, in my work?
In November 2019, me and the other artists of the artistic collective that I’m part of, the DIAMOND DOGS – COMICS, were selected as exhibitors for the self-area of Lucca Comics and Games.
We stayed five days in Lucca, selling our books, meeting some amazing artists. We slept such a small time, we worked a lot and outside was ALWAYS raining, but our efforts were super-rewarded. These were my favorite five days of the entire year.

If I could, what would I change about myself?
I’d like to be a little more shameless and self-confident.

What is my greatest achievement in work?
This June, the publishing company LEVIATHAN LABS will publish my comic book, “Salomè”, the first spin-off of the Barbarian King’ series, which narrates some brand-new stories about Conan the Barbarian. This is a dream come true: this June, I can go inside a big book-shoop or a big comic-book store and find MY book! I can’t believe it! Massimo Rosi, the CEO editor and creator of the Barbarian King’s world, was really happy about how I’ve worked and made me part of the Leviathan Lab family. I’m really happy to work inside this publishing company.

Where would I most like to live?
This is a big question for me… Right now, I happily live in Florence (Italy) with my fiancé, but I don’t know if we will always be here. I’d like to live in an artistic city near the sea. What I know, is that I won’t be living in the countryside or in a little city like the one where I grew up… it makes me feel lonely.

What is my most treasured possession?
My books! My two-completely-full-Ikea-bookshelves are my beloved treasure. Also, I’m really affectionate to a plushie named “Panda” from my childhood, which I still carry with me.

What is my most marked characteristic?
I’ve got a head full of dreams and I’m very determined to make them true.

What is my most inspirational location, in my city?
The historical archive where I work is a really inspirational place, but what really activates my imagination is walking by the little streets full of people in Florence or sitting on a bus. Observing people passing by is a incredibly big source of ideas. Also I’d got some nice ideas in movie theaters, place full of stories inspires me and make me think “I want to create also a wonderful tale like this!”

What is my favorite place to eat and drink, in my city?
There’s this really good sushi restaurant called Aji-tei, but it’s expensive, so I rarely eat there! It’s for big occasion, ahaha. I’m really affectionate to some pub of the city, like the Brewdog pub or the Hops pub. During my past years of studying, after the script-writing lesson, me and my colleagues used to go and take a drink while talking about our stories or the movie we watched. I’ve got a lot of wonderful memories inside those pubs.

What books influenced my life and how?
As I said before, “The Hero” by David Rubìn. Other books that really influenced me are “Come un romanzo” and the Malaussène’s saga by Daniel Pennac and “Macbeth” by Shakespeare. I’m obsessed with “Macbeth”, I think it’s like the best thing ever written! Also, I decided to seriously dedicate to writing at 17 years old, after reading “Marina” from Carlos Ruìz Zafòn.

You Only Die Once. What music would I listen on my last day?
I would listen to David Bowie, without hesitation.

Who is my hero or heroine in fiction?
I like some classic heroines, like Jane Eyre, with which I’ve empathized a lot while reading. I like a lot Hercules, the classic hero par excellence; the tales about him or inspired from his archetype are always interesting for me.

Who are my heroes and heroines in real life?
Oh gosh. I don’t know! I’d like to think about people really near me, which I get to know, rather than some famous personality that I will tend to idealize. I will call a hero someone that help me in my everyday problems, like my fiancé, my family or my best-friend.
… Well, also my cat.

Which movie would i recommend to see once in a lifetime?
Just one movie? It’s a really hard question! One of my favorite movies ever is “The Phantom Thread” by Paul Thomas Anderson. But I will tell also some Roman Polanski’s movies, like “Rosemary’s baby” or “Le Locataire”.

What role plays art in my life and work?
Without studying art I won’t go anywhere good. Art is fuel for my work and for my mind.

What do the words ‘You are the storyteller of your own life’ to me?
You are the owner of your story. You decide, you make choices. You should have care of the world near you and for doing that you should have care about yourself, about your needs and your spaces. You should not let you happen. And for doing that you should not suffer the decision of others. Make your own choice, ever, you are the hero in your journey!

Who is my greatest fan, sponsor, partner in crime?
I’m a lucky girl: I’ve count some gorgeous artists in my friend’s ranks. My fiancé, Mauro Di Stefano, is also a script-writer: he’s at the same time my hardest critic and my greatest fan. I can always count on him.
My partners in crimes are the Diamond dogs – Comics’ young folks: Roy, Vyles, Giacomo Mogini, Soldo di Cacio, Guscio. They are great artists and great friends to drink with in Bologna’ streets.
Also, I’m lucky to be friend and colleague of people like Massimo Rosi and Lucrezia Benvenuti.

Which people or companies would I like to work with in 2020?
I won’t settle a date or a year to make this experience, but one day I’d like to work with publishing companies like Bao Publishing or Coconino (here in Italy) or Dark Horse and Image (International companies). I’m a little shy to nominate some comic book artists which I’d like to write for, ahaha, but there’s a lot of them!

Which people in my profession who can make a real difference in my creative career would i love to meet in 2020?
As I said before, nominating precise people is really hard! But I’d like to propose my work to some editors and script-writers. Having constructive critics in this job is really important if you want to grow up as an artist

What project, in 2020, am I looking forward to work on?
Right now I’m working at a project for Leviathan Labs with Massimo Rosi and Roy that will be published in 2021… It’s gonna be a comic book series, but we can’t tell anymore for now!

Where can you see me or my work in 2020?
You can find my works in the Diamond Dogs – Comics’ social pages (search us on facebook and instagram) or in the Leviathan Labs’ webshop and social pages (as i said before, search it on facebook or instagram, you will find some previews of “Salomè”!)

What do the words “Passion Never Retires” mean to me?
It means that if you decide to make art, you will make art from 5 to 99 years. You won’t stop and you will make art for yourself before work or for others.

Which creative heroines should Peter invite to tell their story?
Talking about some people I know personally, he should invite Lucrezia Benvenuti (graphic designer in between of Italy and Malaga), Soldo di Cacio (comic book and polyhedric artist), Guscio (animator and illustrator which work with me to a book for Diamond Dogs Comics named “March has 21 days”).
Also I can think about some gorgeous women making art we have here in Italy, like Zuzu, Paola Barbato, Barb Muratori and Nova.

How can you contact me?
You can contact me through my social network’s profile, by sending a private message:
Barbara L. Giorgi (facebook)
@bab_lionheart (instagram)

Here follows a message of Peter de Kuster, founder of The Heroine’s Journey