We will do a talk about our new book at The Orwell Society next month.
 
"Such, Such Were The Joys" is a new graphic novel adapted from Orwell’s famous essay. The novel will be launched at 6pm UK time on Sunday 7th November in a free online event organised by The Orwell Society which is expected to last one hour.
 
We will be joined by adapter Sean Michael Wilson and illustrator Jaime Huxtable to discuss their novel. Orwell's son Richard Blair will introduce the event and Les Hurst will discuss the importance of the essay.
A Zoom link will be sent 2 days before the event.
 
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/184649239847

A wee list from myself at the site Shepherd, on 5 interesting literary or mature style manga:
https://shepherd.com/best-books/literary-manga

​A nice in-depth interview with my wee self in The Riverside Quarterly, a multidisciplinary, open access, advertisement-free journal:
“…In the intervening thirty five years, graphic novels have grown in both readership and diversity to form a unique medium within the genre of “sequential art narratives.” The explosion of film titles adapted from graphic novels adds a substantial dimension to the industry. As the scope of this industry comes into focus, it’s easy to forget that all of this begins with an author and artist weaving creativity and technique into a single graphic narrative. To gain some insight into the craft of the graphic novel, I spoke with graphic novelist Seán Michael Wilson about his creative process and new work, The Minamata Story: An EcoTragedy.
The first British citizen to receive the International Manga Award from the Japanese government, Wilson’s collected works cover both historical and social subjects. I first became aware of him through his exegesis of the 18th-century Japanese classic, The Demon’s Sermon on Martial Arts by Issai Chozanshi. Before this summer, we last spoke in the summer 2015, when I interviewed him about his graphic novel Cold Mountain, which chronicled the lives of Chinese poets Han Shan and Shih Te. Our Minamata exchange was equally insightful….”
See more here: https://riversidequarterly.com/sean-michael-wilson-the-minamata-story/

Pan Review
This is the first bit of promo that has come out related to our new George Orwell graphic novel, yesterday. An interview with me about it, also talking about my political leanings (rather than 'falling-over-ings').
THE PAN REVIEW
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​PICOF 2021:
Philippines International Comics Online Festival

Over the four weekends of September. six webinars per weekend by amazing local comics creators and experts and by international guest speakers from the United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong, Spain, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, France and the USA.

My own webinar, with Akiko Shimojima, on international collaborations and focusing on our new book together, Minamata: an Ecotragedy (the true story of environmental disaster in Japan) is on Saturday September 18th, 10am Philippines time.

International people can apply for a free ticket for the event from the organisers or from me. Just send me a message here, PM, or otherwise.
People in the Philippines can buy one of the related comics to gain access to the events.

Nice.

Coming out THIS week is our graphic novel version of a wonderful piece from George Orwell, called Such, Such Were the Joys. Over the last few years I have developed a very strong interest in Orwell's various essays and shorter pieces. They cover a very wide range of subjects, everything from communism to cigarettes, from toads to the tories! All written in the style of using 'plain but intelligent' sentences and points of Orwell's, which later became very influential as a writing style.
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Such, Such Were the Joys.is an autobiographical tale about Orwell's childhood experiences of school, connecting his tales to wider social points. The book is adapted into graphic novel form by myself and artist @jaimehuxtable
It comes out on August the 20th from respected long time publisher of books on sociology, history and politics, @plutopress as their first graphic novel. Published with the permission of the Orwell estate , it even has a back cover blurb from Orwell's son.

​Below is a great wee video the publisher made and see more about the book HERE

When did it become the norm for interviewers to express things as commands, saying: "Tell us about X", instead of being polite and saying please?

And could they please say please again?

​Ta!

Me in the newspaper here again today, talking about our book on the very important subject of Minamata disease, the damage to the environment and to the people affected by it.
The Minamata Story: an Ecotragedy by Sean Michael Wilson and Akiko Shimojima

https://nordot.app/791119316750942208?c=92619697908483575&fbclid=IwAR15AOeW0seW7ZwkyfYmFlkmha9OGcI0UktsLiuS1ru04aVq6tMZnNyAx-A​

Very pleasing reviews of two of our books, from someone I esteem highly.
Nice.

Comics Grinder
 
"The Many Not The Few is the finest graphic novel history of a nation’s working class ever published, or at least I have not seen any better."
-Paul Buhle, retired senior lecturer, American Studies department, Brown University; author and editor of many books on radical history.
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