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Cicada Books Expands Graphic Novels Publishing With YA & Adult Titles

Cicada Books expands graphic novel publishing with YA and Adult Titles, Everything Amplified and Shushu form 2025 and 2026

What do the millions of kids reading middle-grade graphic novels want to read next? London-based book publisher Cicada Books is betting on an idea to expand its publishing of graphic novels. Beginning with Everything Amplified, a YA graphic novel from Sarah Lippett and Ziggy Hanaor, this September. And an adult graphic novel next year, with Shushu, a graphic novel from Alte Zachen/Old Thing co-creators Benjamin Phillips and also Ziggy Hanaor. Both these deals were struck straight between Cicada and the creators.

Everything Amplified by Sarah Lippett, Ziggy Hanaor
A beautiful graphic novel about the complexities of teenage life, the tangles of twinship and the power of music to somehow make sense of it all. Sometimes everything feels heavy and uncomfortable. My body, my family, my life… And the only thing that releases that weight is music…. It's like a secret passageway to a world where everything is switched off but sound… and I feel free. Nel is 15 years old and life is a grind. GCSEs are exhausting, social pressures are relentless and parents and teachers are oblivious. Somehow Ludo, Nel's handsome twin brother, seems untouched by it all, gliding effortlessly through life's complications with a confidence and arrogance that only illuminates Nel's insecurities. Her best friend, Kit and her playlist are pretty much the only things she's got going for her right now. When Ludo joins a band and Kit starts going out with the guitarist, it feels like even the tiny space Nel has carved out for herself is in peril. But nothing is forever, and teenage life can turn on a dime. When Nel finds herself taking Ludo's place in the band, she has to work out whether life outside the shadows is all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you need to follow the music to find your way back to yourself. 1 Sept. 2025

Sarah Lippett's debut graphic novel Stan and Nan from Jonathan Cape in 2016 snagged the Quentin Blake Award for illustration and a Guardian Book of the Year. Hanaor said: "'I was a long-time admirer of Sarah's work – Stan and Nan is one of my favourite graphic novels of all time. Sarah has a warmth and spontaneity to her line-work and her writing style has a wisdom and optimism that feels very necessary right now. Although we never set out to write a YA book, our shared experience of music as a refuge in times of trouble led us naturally to that arena. Whilst music can often evoke a sense of nostalgia, it was important to us that the book be set in a contemporary context, reflecting the complicated realities of growing up in a digital age." Lippett said: "I loved collaborating with Ziggy. I've been involved in various music communities since I was young, writing songs and playing bass in a post-punk band. It was both daunting and a delight to translate the energy and emotion of making music into a visual language. I really enjoyed building the characters and the world of Waterford. My aim was to look at the confines of a small town through the eyes of Nel – a smart, ambitious outsider – and then contrast that with the perspective of her easygoing, popular twin brother, Ludo. Female role models give Nel a sense of possibility and a glimpse into the wider world that awaits."

Cicada began publishing graphic novels in 2022 with Benjamin Phillips' Carnegie-shortlisted Alte Zachen/Old Thing, and followed that success with The Egg Incident in 2023. Hanaor is also working with Phillips on Shushu, an adult graphic novel to be published in 2026. Cicada is planning a major PR and marketing campaign to launch Everything Amplified.

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