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7 Creators From 7 Judges For First Graphic Novel Award Shortlist

Seven graphic novels-in-progress shortlisted for the First Graphic Novel Award 2023 were revealed at the Thought Bubble Comics Con.

A female footballer, a murderous housewife, a Mongolian truck driver, a grieving bookseller, an unemployed cross-dresser, a transmasculine queer person working in a ramen shop and protestors from the Rhondda Valley are the main characters of seven graphic novels-in-progress shortlisted for the First Graphic Novel Award 2023. The seven shortlisted creators were revealed at the Thought Bubble Comics Con this weekend, at a display of all 30 longlisted entries.  The shortlist includes graphic fiction and non-fiction, graphic reportage and memoir.

• Gareth Cowlin's The Hiraeth Club. Gerald Preston works at Wattersons Booksellers, and lives with a hole in his chest, a physical manifestation of 'hiraeth', a Welsh word meaning 'irretrievable loss'. Sister Jenny died some 20 years ago, and Gerald recruits customers and colleagues to explore that hole in his life.
• Alexander Taylor's Bone Broth. A coming-of-age queer thriller, following Ash, a young transmasculine queer person, starting his first job in a ramen shop. As he begins to learn the process of making bone broth ramen, he suddenly finds himself caught up in how to cover up the death of his boss after a staff party.
• Cathy Brett's Mrs Thorwald. What really happened to Mrs Thorwald, the 'nagging New York housewife', who apparently murdered and dismembered by her adulterous husband? Here's the story the neighbours couldn't see, a 3D illustration picture book inspired by Hitchcock's 'Rear Window'.
• Mereida Fajardo's Zayani Zam. A silent graphic novel about loneliness and connection on the Mongolian coal road. It follows a day in the life of a female truck driver who spends every day driving coal from the mines at Tavan Tolgoi to the Chinese border, yearning for the freedom of a nomadic life that no longer exists.
• Myfanwy Tristram's The Noisy Valley. True stories of protest from the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. A response to current-day politics and the erosion of our rights to protest, the author interviews local people and shares their stories – and bears witness to a rich culture of those who don't take things lying down.
• Anna Trench's Florrie. A queer, historical graphic novel about love and women's football in 1920s Europe. When Florrie's great-great-niece discovers Florrie was a footballer in the early twentieth century, she unearths a secret history both on and off the pitch. In 1921, the FA banned women's matches.
• Corban Wilkin's The Infinite Benefits Of Shame. 'Most people living with gender incongruence don't transition. Many never talk to anyone about how they feel, and repress it forever.' A contemporary graphic novel about the relationship between a young man and his gender-non-conforming lover.

Judges included Emma Hayley of SelfMadeHero, who will offer the winning author a contract for publication. Longlisted authors will receive feedback from the judges and have their work reviewed by the Bks Agency, sponsors of an additional £500 cash prize for the winner. The prize winner will be announced on Monday 11 December at Waterstones Piccadilly.

The six other judges are artist and graphic novelist Sabba Khan; contemporary artist Mark Wallinger, Cartoon Museum Learning Officer Steve Marchant, editor and writer Ayoola Solarin, broadcast journalist Alex Fitch, and award director Corinne Pearlman.

The award is open to artists, writers and comic creators who are UK residents and have not had a longform graphic novel commercially published before. Nearly a third of entrants were from European or other backgrounds. There was an even spread of ages, ranging from 18 to over 65, and just over half were from outside London and the southeast. Over half the 170 entries were by women.

The First Graphic Novel award is a partnership between the publisher SelfMadeHero, the Cartoon Museum, and award director Corinne Pearlman. It was previously known as the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition. Myriad's Graphics list includes the four previous winners and six other books by shortlisted authors. Three of the authors selected this year – Cathy Brett, Anna Trench and Myfanwy Tristram – were also shortlisted for the previous competitions.

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