Send us a text This episode is part of a collaboration with Lakes International Comics Arts Festival. Lucy chats to writer and illustrator Emma Reynolds Emma Reynolds is an illustrator and author based in Manchester, UK. Her latest book Drawn to Change The World: 16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists , is a middle grade graphic novel with each activist bio illustrated by an acclaimed artist from around the world. With extensive backmatter including activist interviews on the power of community,...
Sep 07, 2023•48 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Send us a text In this episode Lucy chats to writer and illustrator Victoria Jamieson . Victoria is an writer and illustrator from Pensylavia UK - most well known in the UK for her graphic novels roller girl and when stars are scattered. In this interview we talk about her journey to becoming a graphic novelist, her sources of in spiration and her process for creating graphic novels and we spend time talking about both Roller Girl and When Stars Are Scattered . You can find additional teaching r...
Jun 21, 2023•43 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Send us a text In this episode Lucy chats to cartoonist Marc Jackson. Marc lives and works in Macclesfield with my wife Jane and children Nancy and Florence. He created comics and characters for the BEANO, Aces Weekly, Hey kids comics, the Brooklyn red hook star revue, Freaky magazine, SCARFFF comics newspaper, and the Phoenix. In 2017 he was awarded a grant from the Arts Council to create the comic ‘Here comes CAT STEVENS’ published by the Lakes international comic art festival. Marc specialise...
Jun 14, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Send us a text This week Lucy chats to art educator Hester Harrington about her approach to using comics in the art classroom. Hester Harrington, Art Educator and Co-Producer for Little LICAF - is part of the LICAF team responsible for comic content for youngsters, family and educators as part of the Lakes International Comic Art Festival year round programme of events. She is also a part-time secondary school Art teacher, with over 15 years of teaching experience. She is passionate about design...
Jun 04, 2023•43 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Send us a text This week Lucy chats to the brilliant Dave Shelton - author and illustrator - to discuss how his life-long love of comics has influenced his work His slapstick comedy noir comic strip Good Dog, Bad Dog has appeared in The DFC comic, The Phoenix , and the Guardian , and is collected in two books by David Fickling Books. His debut prose novel for children, A Boy and a Bear in a Boat , which he also illustrated, was short listed for the Costa prize and the Carnegie medal, and won the...
May 31, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Send us a text In this episode Lucy is joined by American educator Shveta Miller. Shveta Miller is a national literacy leader and serves on the Governor’s Council for Educator Advancement in Oregon as a professional learning facilitator. A former high school Language Arts teacher and author of Hacking Graphic Novels: 8 Ways to Teach Higher-Level Thinking with Comics and Visual Storytelling , she is a passionate advocate for using multimodal texts of all kinds to create engaged, insightful, curio...
May 24, 2023•54 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Send us a text A double Lucy episode! This week Lucy chats to specialist Manga librarian from Peters the bookseller, Lucy Forrester. Lucy Forrester has been a children's librarian since 2006, and a comics fan since she can remember. Working for Peters Booksellers, she has made comics and manga her specialist field, and has taken part in conferences, conventions, and book awards to promote and increase understanding and appreciation of the graphic format. Lucy shares just a fraction of her expans...
May 10, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Send us a text This week Lucy talks to Natalie Scarlett about Afro Manga Club - a joint project run by The National Literacy Trust and Black Heritage Support Service for young people in Birmingham AND we hear from the young people themselves as the podcast hits the road and visits the club in session (huge thanks to roving reporter and National Literacy Trust Hub Manager Kyle!). You can find out more about the work of the National Literacy Trust by following the links below: Website: www.literac...
May 03, 2023•28 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Send us a text Lucy chats with Sara Alfageeh , co-creator of the fantastic YA graphic novel Squire . They discuss her creative process, her collaborative process with co-creator Nadia Shammas and the impact and importance of representation. Sara Alfageeh is a Jordanian-American illustrator and creative director in San Francisco. She is passionate about history, teaching, girls with swords, and the spaces where art and identity intersect. Her award-winning debut graphic novel SQUIRE is on shelves...
Apr 26, 2023•47 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Send us a text Lucy chats to primary school teacher and graphic novel enthusiast, Richard Ruddick . We discuss his approach to including comics and graphic novels in the curriculum and encouraging access to them for reading for pleasure. Richard Ruddick is a year six teacher from Norfolk who is passionate about using graphic novels to develop passionate readers. He runs a blog about how he utilises them to support learning and as a tool to improve engagement across the curriculum and he also has...
Apr 19, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Send us a text In this special BONUS EPISODE Lucy chats to Paul Register , founder of the Excelsior Award , the biggest book award for graphic novels and manga in the UK! What makes the awards so special is that from the expertly curated shotlists, children and young people vote for the winning book in each category themselves - a great tool for reading engagement. In this episode Paul talks about the origin of the awrds, how they work and how schools can get involved, and then takes us though t...
Mar 23, 2023•50 min0
Send us a text Lucy chats to Commisioning Editor at David Fickling Books , Anthony Hinton. We discuss the recent boom in popularity of british graphic novels - including the success of Jamie Smart and Neill Cameron. Anthony is part of the team at The Phoenix Comic, where he edits the comic books produced through the DFB/Phoenix partnership, including Jamie Smart's number 1 bestselling Bunny vs Monkey , Neill Cameron's Mega Robo Bros , Laura Ellen Anderson's Evil Emperor Penguin , Adam and Lisa M...
Mar 08, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Send us a text Lucy chats to comic artist and creator of the Bumble and Snug series of graphic novels, Mark Bradley . Mark Bradley is a comic artist and writer, and creator of the Bumble & Snug graphic novel series. He grew up reading stories about ghosts and monsters, and promptly decided that he preferred them to humans The first of book in the Bumble & Snug graphic novel series was shortlisted for the 2022 Waterstones Children’s Prize. He is passionate about the role comics can play i...
Mar 01, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Send us a text In this episode I am joined by Neil Cohn, Neil Cohn is an American cognitive scientist best known for his pioneering research on the overlap in cognition between graphic communication and language. He is the author of 2 graphic novels, over 80 academic papers, and 3 academic books, including The Visual Language of Comics (2013) and the 2021 Eisner-nominated Who Understands Comics? (2020) . He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Cognition and Communication at Tilburg Uni...
Feb 15, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Send us a text In this week's episode Lucy speaks to primary school teacher and writer of Slug Boy Saves the World , Mark A Smith. We discuss Mark's love of all things Marvel and how that passion for comics has influenced his teaching, his writing...and his life in general! Mark A. Smith was born in Dundee, where he works as a primary school teacher. He lives in Fife and spends most of his spare time reading comics and writing stories. . Slugboy Saves the World is his first novel. Links to every...
Feb 15, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Send us a text In this week's episode Lucy speaks to the hugely talented comic artist, Rebecca Burgess - mostly focusing on her latest middle grade graphic novel, Speak Up . Rebecca Burgess is a comic artist and illustrator working in the UK, creating award winning published and small press work. Along with drawing comics for their day job, Rebecca also loves drawing webcomics in their free time. Being autistic, they are particularly passionate about bringing more autistic characters into comics...
Feb 08, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Send us a text In this episode I chat with PhD student Meher Shiblee. Meher is a second year, full time, PhD student at LCC, UAL. Her research topic is titled; Considering 21st Century Muslim Superheroines and Issues of Representation: Comics, Creators and Readers in Context. In addition to her studies, she has worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and an Associate Lecturer at her university, curating and conducting ‘Research Methods’ modules for MA students at LCC and CCW. >Meher did her M...
Feb 01, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Send us a text In this episode I chat with writer and school librarian Lucas Maxwell . Lucas Maxwell has been reading comics since he was very young and living in Nova Scotia, Canada. Now, he gets to promote comics and other great books to kids in the high school library that he's managed in South London, UK for the past nine years. He's also a writer for Book Riot, a D&D Dungeon Master and the author of a book about table top roleplaying games in school and public libraries. Lucas' Blog can...
Jan 25, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Send us a text Dr Harriet Earle (Hattie) is a senior lecturer in English at Sheffield Hallam University and research fellow at the Centre for War, Atrocity, and Genocide at the University of Nipissing. She is the author of Comics, Trauma, and the New Art of War (2017) and Comics: An Introduction (2020) – and she writes mostly on war and violence. In this episode we explore some of the historical reasons that comics sit on the outskirts of the educational mainstream and discuss their otential, th...
Jan 18, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Send us a text In this episode I chat with award winning comics creator, Neill Cameron . Neill Cameron is a cartoonist and writer, creator of the comic books Mega Robo Bros , Since 2011 his work has appeared in the weekly children’s comic The Phoenix . In 2016 Mega Robo Bros and Tamsin and the Deep were both shortlisted for the British Comics Awards . In 2017, Mega Robo Bros won the Excelsior Award Jr , a national comic award voted for by school and library reading groups across the UK. In 2018 ...
Jan 11, 2023•39 min
Send us a text In this episode I chat with Gemma Sosnowsky about all things comics in the school library. Gemma is an experienced school librarian and member of the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival board, as well as judge on the Excelsior Award and, in this episode, shares lots of practical advice on how to maximise the use of comics in your school library. Links to everything discussed, including Gemma's reading recommendations can be found on the podcast padlet. Follow Gemma on Twitter ...
Jan 01, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1
