Welcome to the primary awards roundup of 2024. Here is a few further award information from the previous few months that you’ll have missed.
Daniel Clowes’ Monica was formally The Best Book of 2023!
Jamie Coville ran an evaluation of 266 ‘Best of’ lists that have been revealed final yr and discovered that the Daniel Clowes graphic novel Monica was 2023’s most advisable title.
On his weblog, Coville mentioned:
“Since October 2023 there have been many, many websites with “Best of 2023” lists regarding comedian books, manga, webcomics and graphic novels. If you’ve checked out a couple of, you’ll have seen some of the identical books on totally different lists and seen some distinctive to solely that record.
“I went through 226 different URLs with “Best Of” Lists concerning comics and mixed them right into a spreadsheet. There are over 3,800 totally different listings of books from these web sites. I ought to notice that I’ve included books that got honourable mentions. In quick, if any individual thought it was e book that it’s best to try, it’s on right here.”
Coville discovered the (statistical) Top 10 of all Top 10s in 2023 have been:
- Monica, Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics) — 62 mentions
- Roaming, Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki (Drawn & Quarterly) — 51 mentions
- Shubeik Lubeik, Deena Mohamed (Pantheon) — 37 mentions
- Blood of the Virgin, Sammy Harkham (Pantheon) — 35 mentions
- A Guest within the House, Emily Carroll (First Second) — 35 mentions
- The Talk, Darrin Bell (Henry Holt and Co.) —- 35 mentions
- Why Don’t You Love Me?, P.B. Rainey (Drawn & Quarterly) — 27 mentions
- Worldtr33, James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire (Image Comics) — 24 mentions
- Birds of Prey, Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Bastos Romero, Jordie Bellaire, Matt Herms (DC Comics) — 23 mentions
- Mexikid, Pedro Martin (Dial Books) — 23 mentions
You can try the total record right here
Daniel Clowes’s Monica longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award
Daniel Clowes’ Monica (Fantagraphics) can be within the operating for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction – the one graphic novel to make the record this yr. It is one of ten longlisted books picked from 445 eligible novels and quick story collections submitted by over 200 publishers.
Even if it solely makes finalist it’s going to turn out to be the primary graphic novel to take action – the closest e book prior was Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Random House), whose lead characters are set within the American comedian e book business; it positioned finalist in 2001. G. Willow Wilson’s 2019 novel The Bird King (Grove Press) was longlisted in 2020.
On social media, writer Fantagraphics mentioned:
“We are thrilled to announce that Monica by Daniel Clowes has been longlisted for the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction! It’s an enormous honor and well-deserved ❤️ “
Begun in 1981, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is an annual prize by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to greatest works of fiction by dwelling American residents. It has been in existence since 1980. Winners obtain $15,000 and 4 runners up obtain $5000 every. Finalists can be introduced this month and winners introduced in April.
The 2024 judges this yr embody novelists Xochitl Gonzalez and Lynn Steger Strong; and cartoonist, novelist and poet Alan Michael Parker.
Bram Stoker Awards Finalists Announced, Dark Horse dominates in Graphic Novels
The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards (for work revealed in 2023) introduced their finalists in every of 13 classes on February 22. In the graphic novel class (“Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel”) the 5 finalists included three books revealed by Dark Horse – Adam Cesare and David Stoll’s Dead Mall; Amy Chu and Soo Lee’s Carmilla: The First Vampire; and Gou Tanabe’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Dark Horse was additionally effectively represented within the January longlist, holding six of the ten titles in rivalry.
The Finalists:
- Carmilla: The First Vampire, Amy Chu, artwork by Soo Lee (Dark Horse)
- Dead Mall, Adam Cesare, artwork by David Stoll (Dark Horse)
- Ghostlore, Vol. 1, Cullen Bunn, artwork by Leomacs (BOOM! Studios)
- H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, Gou Tanabe (Dark Horse)
- Tombs, Junji Ito (Viz Media)
Winners are chosen by way of poll of the Horror Writers Association membership. Voting closes March 15 with the winners declared at a June 1 ceremony throughout StokerCon 2024 weekend (May 30-June 2, 2024) on the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley, San Diego, California.
The Bram Stoker Awards have been yearly introduced by the Horror Writers Association since 1987, spotlighting work within the horror and darkish fiction style. The graphic novel class has been operating since 2011. The class winner final yr went to editor James Aquilone’s anthology Kolchak: The Night Stalker: fiftieth Anniversary (Moonstone Books).
David Fickling Books within the Running for Small Press of the Year
British writer David Fickling Books – based mostly in Oxford, UK – is among the many fifty-five (!) finalists in line for Small Press of the Year on the 2024 British Book Awards. The writer’s portfolio is a mixture of comics and books for kids.
Originating as an imprint within the early 2000s – first at Scholastic, then Random House – David Fickling Books went full impartial in 2013. While a sister firm publishes the Phoenix weekly anthology comedian – together with the blockbuster hit sequence Bunny vs Monkey, by Jamie Smart – the collections are beneath the purview of David Fickling Books.
Small presses within the British e book publishing world up for the award are corporations with a annual turnover of lower than £5 million ($6.35 million). Winners can be introduced on the British Book Awards ceremony happening at Grosvenor House, London on May 13.
Editor of The Bookseller and chair of judges for the British Book Awards, Philip Jones mentioned:
“These presses have ridden out the pandemic peaks and troughs, and have emerged into the new age stronger than ever with some first-class publishing backed by an acute understanding of who they are and how to find their customers.”
Posy Simmonds lastly receives Angoulême Grand Prix
Posy Simmonds belatedly obtained her Angoulême Grand Prix at a small ceremony on Tuesday February 7. The British graphic novelist behind Cassandra Darke (2018), Tamara Drewe (2007), Gemma Bovery (1999), and True Love (1981) was introduced because the winner of the Grand Prix – one of the very best honours in world comics, and the primary particular person from the UK to realize it – on the eve of the Angoulême International Festival, January 24, however was unable to attend. Posy was in Paris for promotional occasions associated to her main retrospective exhibition at Paris’ Pompidou Centre – together with a public panel with earlier Grand Prix recipient Riad Sattouf. She will attend the 52nd Angoulême Festival happening January 29 to February 2, 2025.
René Goscinny Awards 2024 go to Julie Birmant and Simon Boileau
The Prix René Goscinny for Best Comics Writer went to Julie Birmant for Dalí quantity 1 – Avant Gala [Before Gala], with artist Clément Oubrerie and revealed by Dargaud. The prize was awarded as half of the Angoulême Comics Festival. Birmant has constructed a comics writing profession largely round graphic biographies, predominantly with Oubrerie as artist. SelfMadeHero have revealed two earlier collaborations between Birmant and Oubrerie, specializing in the life of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (Pablo, 2015) and the American-born dancer Isadora Duncan (Isadora, 2019). Their latest sequence focuses on the life of Spanish artist Salvador Dalí and a translation of the primary quantity was digitally launched by Europe Comics in October 2023.
The René Goscinny Prize for Young Writers went to Simon Boileau for debut graphic novel The Ride [La Ride], a buddy-movie bicycle journey drawn by artist Florent Pierre, revealed by Darguad in 2023.
The René Goscinny Prize is known as after the beloved French comics author René Goscinny, greatest generally known as the co-creator of the Asterix sequence with artist Albert Uderzo. Winners are chosen by business professionals and obtain a prize of €2,500 every. It is run by the René Goscinny Institute, Angoulême Festival and the Moselle Agence Culturelle.
Bokko will get the Prix Konishi
The Konishi Prize for Manga (Japanese-French Translation) went to the primary quantity of army technique seinen sequence Bokko [published in French as Bokko – Strategy], loosely tailored from a 1991 Kenichi Sakemi novel by Hideki Mori and Sentarō Kubota. The French version was translated by Odilon Grevet and revealed by Vega Dupuis.
The authentic manga – which is ready throughout China’s warring states interval (round 5th century BCE) was first serialised in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Magazine in Japan between 1992 and 1996, filling 11 volumes and successful Shogakukan’s Manga Award in 1995. No English translation is at the moment obtainable.
The Konishi Prize Manga Prize has been operating for seven years and is sponsored by the Konishi Foundation for International Exchange, which helps cultural, scholarly and scientific trade between Japan, France and different components of the world. The Konishi Foundation sponsors two prizes – a literary prize begun in 1993 and a manga award in 2017. France has one of the most important markets for manga on the planet. It is delivered in partnership with the Angoulême Festival.
Giving perception into the manga’s French adaptation, translator Odilon Grevet mentioned [translated via DeepL]:
“Bokko is a singular work with a candy anachronistic taste. Begun in 1992, it seems to be as if it has stepped out of the pages of a 70s gekiga journal. Visually, it’s already out of step with the instances, as is its setting: historic China.
“The text is not outdone either, with its “old-fashioned but not too old-fashioned” really feel, which likes to dig up outdated phrases which have fallen into disuse. You need to watch out to not enterprise into obscure outdated French that will postpone the reader, however be mindful to keep away from sure expressions which might be a bit of too fashionable.
“A fine balancing act, Hideki Mori alternates between information-dense background passages and magnificent, uncluttered double-page spreads. And despite being set over two millennia ago in a faraway land, Bokko remains a compelling manga, both humanistic and fiercely pacifist. Which makes it all the more special in today’s climate”
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