We’re all very excited at Turnaround to be working with amazing new comics publisher Avery Hill. Their list of books is nothing short of incredible, and is sure to make any lover of comics and illustration weak at the knees. We wanted to introduce them to readers of this blog, so here’s a bit more about them, in their own words…
Avery Hill is a publishing company based in South London with a strongly independent ethos. Our motto “Avery Hill helps aspiring creators reach their potential and is a home to the geniuses that the mainstream has yet to recognise” describes our particular interest in fostering new talent and bringing interesting and unusual comics/art books to a wider audience.
Avery Hill developed out of the UK small press/zine scene about five years ago. We started out making zines and then as more and more comics creators became interested in what we were doing, comics anthologies. The first book we published was Tim Bird’s Grey Area: While the City Sleeps – a title which has developed into an award-winning series, the fourth volume of which, Grey Area: Our Town, has just been released.
Over the last five years Avery Hill’s catalogue has grown rapidly and we continue to reach new heights; notching up numerous international award nominations and wins along the way. In 2014 we had our first British Comic Award nomination, and by 2015 we were the most-nominated publisher in the British Comic Awards, with Grey Area: From the City to the Sea winning Best Comic!
In 2015 we published two graphic novels by a young American creator Tillie Walden, whose work quickly took the comics world by storm. This year her book I Love This Part was nominated for both Eisner and Ignatz Awards in the US, with Walden taking home the Ignatz Award for ‘Promising New Talent’. Walden also won the Ignatz Award for ‘Outstanding Artist’ for her debut Avery Hill book The End of Summer.
We’ve seen significant developments in terms of our distribution partnerships in the last couple of years. Internationally we’ve partnered up with US publisher Retrofit/Big Planet Comics, to distribute each others books and also with Floating World Comics who we distribute for in the UK. Were looking forward to announcing details of our 2017 books and are delighted to have them represented by Turnaround! We’re looking forward to working with their excellent team to get our books to a wider audience.
