​I'm on the BBC for the same bad reason again, ironically almost exactly 10 years after they interviewed me for the big earthquake here in Kumamoto in spring 2016. Yesterday there was another big earthquake, magnitude 7 again. Scary stuff, especially for our new dog we just got a few week ago, who was really shocked... poor wee feart dug, as we say in Scotland.
The worst thing was a shopping mall exploded, a whole second floor collapsed and trapped a bunch of people inside and so far they think at least three people have died (update:13 people reported as dead as of 4pm), probably more as they search through the wreckage and try to save people who are still trapped there now. It’s a shopping mall we often go to and we were there just last week.
In the morning, I’m doing an interview for Sky News morning program, and for ITV news. With the dog maybe. Let's hope there is no big second quake today, as happened in 2016.

Our new book, out June 14th, 2026, a 120 page book from new European publisher, Eostre Publications. 

​A visual account of Samuel Hearne's journeys to the north of what today is called Canada. Hearne was looking for the mysterious Northwest Passage, fired by the imagination of prior explorers and the greed of trading companies. Hearne was the first known European to reach the shore of the Arctic Ocean by an overland route and he discovered that there was no navigable passage through the continent at lower latitudes.
Samuel Hearne undertook three expeditions from November 1769 to June 1772 with the guidance of the native Cree and Chipewyan people, including Matonabbee, a respected leader who became crucial to the third expedition. Along the way, we learn about the local flora and fauna, the culture and habit of the indigenous First Nations, and witness the infamous Bloody Falls massacre of Copper Inuits near the mouth of the Coppermine River. 

By award winning team of Sean Michael Wilson and Akiko Shimojima, their 11th book together.
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See more of the book on its own page HERE

I will be doing a talk at Ushaw Historic House in north east England tomorrow, about our Lafcadio Hearn related books. The building is where Hearn went to school in 1863. They contacted me saying 'you wont know us, but...' and i replied saying 'I DO know your place, AND the school is already mentioned in one of my books!'
hehe...

​Back from the bonny old UK where our book events went very well. Nice to do a lecture in Cambridge University and continue the discussions in one of its famous pubs by the river with some very smart folk.
But this one in the Kurdish Community Center was the best. The Kurdish people were amazingly warm and welcoming to me. More than just about any group of people I have ever met anywhere in the world.
"As part of the global Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Days, a promotion meeting was held in London presenting the graphic novel ‘Freedom Shall Prevail: The Struggle of Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish People’.
The promotion meeting organised by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Kurdish People's Assembly in Britain and the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Movement Committee at the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC)..."

​https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/-75641

Off to Paris soon!

Myself and Japanese artist, Inko Ai Takita, will go to Paris give a presentation at the Guimet Museum, in the afternoon on February 24th. The evening before that we will do a talk and book signing in the publisher's own book shop, from 6pm Feb 23rd. Both are about our manga version of the classic The Tale of Genji.

The museum event is part of a big exhibition all about the Tale of Genji, with a lot of interesting related objects and events. Our event will also include the Japanese artist Harumo Sanazaki, the French ‘raguko’ performer Cyril Coppini, and our French publisher, Benoit Labayle.

Anyone in the area is welcome to come:
"Roman fondateur pour la culture japonaise, "Le Dit du Genji" continue d'inspirer des expressions artistiques contemporaines, comme les mangas, qui en réinterprètent les codes et les thèmes. Le plus célèbre est sans doute Asaki yume mishi de Waki Yamato (né en 1948). La récente édition de Sean Michael Wilson (2022), illustrée par Inko Ai Takita, sera présentée dans cette exposition. "
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https://www.guimet.fr/fr/expositions/la-cour-du-prince-genji

​We had two pleasingly successful events in Paris over the weekend. in the @le.reve.du.papillon a very nice bookshop about 10 minutes down the road from Notre dame, with owners Benoit and Louise who are also the publisher of our Tale of Genji book in French Éditions Synchronique ...I just realised that half the folk in the bookshop photo looked pretty bored, but actually it was a lively event, with many good questions and a relaxed wine party after...by coincidence the TV series 'Emily in Paris' is set on the same street, and they were filming there just 10 minutes before our event started.
Then a well attended event in the auditorium of the 19thC Guimet Museum @museeguimet with the rakugo-ka, Cyril Coppini, who did a good job of being MC of the afternoon for me and japanese manga artists Sanazaki and Inko Ai Takita @inko_dokotei … speaking in French, Japanese and English, the clever laddie.

There were so many people queued up in the museum bookshop afterwards who bought our book and got it signed that it took almost one hour and a half to sign them all and have a wee chat with everyone… nice!
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And thanks to Eric Mollet of the Francoise Japon Sasakawa Foundation and Luc Jondreville of the French Ministry of Finance for the support and the enjoyable drinks and chat afterwards about various aspects of France…though, as we can see from my face the next day in Montmartre I was very tired!

I have two new books coming out later this year (THIS year, the wan we are stannin in the noo!). And this book below is my 9th 'social issue' type book on aspects of history, society, politics etc...and likely to be the most controversial so far:  
 
"This wonderfully illustrated graphic novel is a collaboration between award-winning Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson and Kurdish artist Keko, with backing and research help from Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and the International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in Kurdistan,” groups with long term and impassioned commitment to the cause of Öcalan and the Kurdish people’s freedom." 
 
Coming out in April from PM Press in English and later in the year in German, Turkish and the Kurdish language itself. Looking forward to seeing them all.  
 
https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1579 ​