UK Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph’s List of Graphic Novels for Libraries.

Bobby Joseph is the current UK Comics Laureate and has already done a terrific job of celebrating the comic format. This year, he has taken it a step further with the first Laureate Library List of Graphic Novels. The list is supported by Arts Council England and will be distributed to libraries across the UK.

“The main reason why I created the Laureate list is to give UK comic creators a spotlight in libraries throughout the whole of the country,” said Joseph. “The choices I made with regards to titles, were made due to the diverse nature of the UK Comics readership. Go into Forbidden Planet or Gosh Comics, or any bookshop. Who’s buying comics/graphic novels/manga? Everyone! That’s who! So, therefore, representation was important to me.”

Not only is the list a brilliant representation of the best comics currently in stores over a wide variety of genres, but we are also of course delighted to see several Turnaround distributed titles on the list. Here are the titles from a selection of our publishers:

Towards the end of 2017 Sayra Begum sent Knockabout a sample of her autobiographical graphic novel, Mongrel. This work was the best unsolicited manuscript they have seen for a very long time. It is rare for a new talent to produce such an ambitious long work.

Sayra is both an accomplished and clever storyteller and an original artist in her layouts and drawing style. The story itself covers matters that are at the heart of our society’s current concerns; immigration, racism, mixed heritage relationships and inter-generational strife.

The front door of Shuna’s family home acted as a gateway to Bangladesh. Nothing haram passed through this door, this was a devout house. When Shuna walked through this door, she switched her rebellious face to her pious face, which eagerly absorbed the teaching of the Prophet, striving to be a good Muslim girl. The switching between these two faces became increasingly difficult as they grew further and further apart.

‘Yes, yes, yes I’ll marry you’ I said to David. Although, after the celestial shock wore off and dull reality set in, I realised there was a slight problem. I would have to tell my very traditional parents that I was going to marry a non-Muslim and confess my secret life.

It’s my wedding day. My parents are absent. I’m not surprised. Why would my parents want to celebrate their daughter’s eternal damnation in hell fire?

Loopy . . . cuckoo . . . stark raving. . . When the depression and grief Alix feels over the death of her friend overwhelm her, she’s institutionalised. But inside a psychiatric ward, things don’t get better for her – now she has nowhere to get away from her rapidly-spiraling thoughts. As Alix navigates disinterested attendants, group therapy, and isolation, she must build herself a new equilibrium and tame the black dog of her depression. Inspired by her own struggles with mental health, Lucy Sullivan tells a powerful, emotional story about the problems that sometimes overwhelm us all – and the failures in the mental health system we depend on.

Neighbours and relatives called me names. I have been a ‘Queer Cartoonist’ for over 40 years and throughout this time I have been as serious, as angry, as funny, camp, and ridiculous as I can possibly be, sometimes all at the same time, beause it’s how I see my job, and my duty as a gay man.

I’ve always made LGBTQI+ cartoons and been lucky enough to have had them regularly published. I have played a central part in them, sometimes as a character or narrator, exploring gay politics from the inside perspective, which means I can criticise governments, health education offices, the church, the police, anything that is bigoted, and still laugh at myself. Attacking the haters, fighting, and trying to protect my community through my cartoons, one tiny square at a time.

This anagram of a book, is a vaguely chronological patchwork of forty(ish) personal stories, that don’t bear too much factual scrutiny, yet are as real and honest as need be, following the trials of Coming Out, the Age of Consent, family rejection, dodgy boyfriends, shaky career prospects, police swoops, the enemy without, queer bashers, the stern presence of HIV/AIDS, the loathsome Section 28,the friends, the outrage and outrageous, the fun, the sex, the scene, Love, Equal Marriage and bereavement… This is my History, it is the history of every 70 year old gay man in Britain today. FORTY LIES=LIFE STORY. Basically, a Comic Book, with knitting patterns.

When the Gods take her father, Sennen starts out on a quest to put things right in her village in this graphic novel.

Sennen’s life is mostly perfect – spending her days tending the fields in her idyllic village and her evenings with her beloved family, all tucked into the crook of a green and beautiful valley. And if it wasn’t for the masked figures descending from the hills with increasing regularity to take their harvested food to deliver to their Gods, she’d have no worries at all.

But when the demands for tribute strike closer to home, Sennen is forced to flee the paradise of her valley and venture into the home of the Gods to save her family and their way of life – only to discover that those we worship are not always what they seem, and the lives we lead are not always so simplistic after all.

Sennen, the debut graphic novel from exciting new British author and artist Shanti Rai, tells a timeless tale of adventure, and the discoveries we make as we explore beyond the boundaries of our childhood, into the uncertainty of the adult world.

Examining racism and interracial relationships, this graphic novel is about a couple’s first meeting with the in-laws.

Farai and Adam have been dating for two years, but she’s never met his parents. Until this weekend.

Adam’s parents have a lovely house in a beautiful small town. But after they arrive, Adam’s mom immediately begins making racist comments about everything from Farai’s hair to her family’s education. Farai asks for Adam’s support ― and Adam is used to keeping quiet in response to cruel, critical remarks from his mother for the sake of peace in the family. He doesn’t stand up for himself, much less for Farai.

This vividly illustrated graphic novel tackles the prejuice and racism Black people experience on an everyday basis.

“Where is home, Mum?” From the foothills of the Himalayas in the Kashmiri valleys to bustling Green Street in East London, Sabba Khan researches her identity from the global to the local, covering partition, displacement, and assimilation with humour and courage.

Two-thirds of today’s British Pakistani diaspora trace their origins back to Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, a district that saw mass displacement and migration when it was submerged by the waters of a dam built after Partition. Sabba Khan’s debut graphic memoir explores what identity, belonging and memory mean for her and her family against the backdrop of this history.

As a second generation Azad Kashmiri migrant in East London, Khan paints a vivid snapshot of contemporary British Asian life and investigates the complex shifts experienced by different generations within migrant communities, creating an uplifting and universal story that crosses borders and decades.

Donny Digits is the Fixingest Boy Alive! Any machine that goes wrong, from a toaster to an ocean liner, anything at all that requires repairing, Donny can do it with the contents of his pockets and whatever is lying around. He’s like a one man International Rescue crossed with Bob The Builder and his abilities are celebrated across the nation. Everybody loves Donny!

But would they still love him if they knew his secret? Donny has a twin brother, Dylan – and he’s a menace! Everything he touches falls to bits! That’s right – he is The Breakingest Boy Alive! Can Donny save the day and keep his secret under wraps?

Check out the full list here.