Broken Frontier

FIRST MYRIAD GRAPHIC NOVEL COMPETITION —SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Novelist Ian Rankin, cartoonist Steve Bell and graphic novelist Bryan Talbot are among six judges that have selected a seven-strong shortlist for Myriad Editions’ first ever FIRST GRAPHIC NOVEL COMPETITION.

The three other judges are graphic novelists Hannah Berry and Ed Hillyer (who is also a début novelist published by Myriad Editions), and Corinne Pearlman, commissioning editor for Myriad’s growing series of graphic titles, now published with the support of Arts Council England.

The shortlisted entries, announced last week, were chosen from a longlist of twenty-one, described by Ian Rankin as ‘a very high standard overall’. Entrants were asked to submit 15–30 pages of a graphic work-in-progress, either fiction or non-fiction, in black and white. The winning author or team will have their work published by Myriad Editions in 2013.

In all, seventy-four qualifying submissions were received. The shortlisted entries will be showcased, and the winner announced, on Saturday 21st January 2012 at First Fictions, a weekend of events championing first novels past and present, jointly organised by Brighton publisher Myriad Editions and the English Department at the University of Sussex.

‘We were amazed by the quantity, quality and diversity of the entries,’ says Corinne Pearlman. ‘It was difficult to pick a longlist. It was difficult to pick a shortlist. And it will be difficult to pick a winner.’

The seven shortlisted entries include six sole creators and a writer and artist team. They are:

Adam Blackman & Dylan Shipley: A Rat’s Tale

Gareth Brookes: The Black Project

Konstantinos Chrisoulis: Dryland

Hannah Eaton: Naming Monsters

Tom Eglington: Amber Sands

Thom Ferrier: The Enlightenment of Iwan James

Paula Knight: The Facts of Life

For more information, visit www.firstfictions.com