10 YEARS OF THE BF SIX TO WATCH! Avery Hill‘s publishing announcements are always something to look out for and their Autumn line-up for 2024 is no exception. Longstanding AHP artist Tim Bird is back with Adrift on a Painted Sea – a book that looks to be a career highlight. And 2023 Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch‘ artist (as ever, we did tell you!) J Webster Sharp’s The Scrapbook of Life and Death will doubtless bring her work to a deserved wider audience. Check out some previews below!
Avery Hill Publishing is proud to announce their graphic novel list for autumn 2024!
The Scrapbook of Life and Death by J. Webster Sharp
Adrift on a Painted Sea by Tim Bird
Avery Hill Publishing Co-Publisher and Commissioning Editor Ricky Miller said of the new list:
“I’m delighted to present Avery Hill’s new titles for the autumn season. We’re continuing our tradition of both discovering new talent and giving long-term support for creators’ careers this fall with an extraordinary debut graphic novel from J. Webster Sharp and a stand-out new autobiographical story from Tim Bird, the first author Avery Hill ever published.
“Tim Bird is a fixture in the Avery Hill family. We’ve been publishing his work since the days when we were photocopying and hand-stapling our own zines, and it’s been one of our greatest pleasures as a publisher to see him grow as an artist. His new graphic novel is his most personal, engaging book yet.
“Avery Hill has made our reputation discovering amazing new authors like Tillie Walden, Zoe Thorogood, and George Wyesol—each one a creator with a distinctive, memorable voice and style. We’re excited to add J. Webster Sharp to that list. After making a name for herself publishing shorter works in anthologies like NOW, she’s bringing her peculiar, eccentric, and deeply personal sensibility to a graphic novel that explores the strangeness of the human psyche.”
The Scrapbook of Life and Death
J. Webster Sharp
Out 3rd September 2024
88 pages, paperback, black and white, 210 x 297mm
The monstrosity of life explored through the strangeness of Edwardian England and the cartoonist’s own mental illness.
‘Dentist Robs Women of Teeth’ — ‘Death Chair for Nice Old Man’ — ‘Mother Feeds Son Like Bird’
The British newspaper clipping collection of egalitarian George Ives, collected between 1892 and 1949, ranged from murder and theories of crime to cricket scores. He was fascinated by the unusual, the gothic, the sexual, and the melodramatic.
In this graphic novel, acclaimed cartoonist J. Webster Sharp shares some of the most bizarre stories from his archives, in silent comics form. With often shocking, visceral black and white artwork, the strangeness and eccentricity of the Edwardian era then provides a backdrop for Sharp’s own struggles with mental health. The Scrapbook of Life and Death is a fascinating, personal window into forgotten historical views of eccentric and socially transcendent and disturbing behaviours—and their resonance in life today.
Adrift on a Painted Sea
Tim Bird
Out 1st October 2024
84 pages, softcover with french flaps, full colour throughout, 168 x 239mm
A poignant, thoughtful graphic memoir that explores family, loss, and art through the author’s relationship with his mother, who painted as a hobby throughout her life.
Sue Bird was always painting: botanical art, landscapes, still lifes, and especially the sea. She took classes, kept countless sketchbooks, and filled the house with art. From their neighborhood to their family trips, all the moments of her life were memorialized in her artwork. Throughout her life, she never sold a piece—she gave art to family and friends, and shared her work online, but never received wider recognition for her work.
This graphic novel by her son, Tim Bird, explores their family life and her creative explorations through a mix of her paintings and Tim’s comics, depicting their relationship and her life from teenagehood to her struggle with cancer at the height of the covid pandemic. After her death, this graphic novel at last showcases her work.
At its heart a book about creativity and family relationships, Adrift on a Painted Sea tells a story about the things we overlook in the people closest to us.
