Humanoids have introduced that they may publish Julia Cejas’ debut graphic novel Hanami in English in April 2024. The graphic novel is a travelogue of Cejas and her companion’s expertise of shifting from Spain to Japan for a 12 months. The e-book shall be obtainable bodily from bookstores and digitally.
“Hanami” (花見) is a Japanese phrase referring to flower viewing (often of cherry blossoms). First printed in French with La Boîte à Bulles in 2022, this translation of the e-book will mark award-winning illustrator Julia Cejas’ English-language debut.
In a press launch Humanoids stated:
“Internationally renowned publisher Humanoids announced today HANAMI a debut graphic autobiography from award-winning comic artist Julia Cejas where she lovingly documents her and her partner, video game composer Marc’s experience living a year in Japan in a series of short adventures, both heartfelt and hilarious. Available in April 2024.”
The plot synopsis of the e-book:
“Julia and Marc are your common artistic millennial couple, stuffed with the anxieties and optimism of their era. When the financial system takes a downturn and Marc loses his engineering job, the pair notice that their relative lack of ties means they will pool their financial savings to embark on a brand new journey: shifting to Japan! Until the cash runs out, anyway…
“The pair move into a tiny apartment and enrol in a local Japanese school as they begin to acclimate to the local culture. Whether learning about the local fire patrol or the beautiful terror of Japanese toilets, the pair embrace their new surroundings with equal parts confusion and wonder!”
Julia Cejas is a comics artist and illustrator primarily based in Valencia, Spain – with specialisms in editorial and youngsters’s illustration. Cejas has received a number of awards in her native Spain together with the primary Creajoven prize in 2007 and the Valencia Crea in 2009. Initially a collection of illustrations of her expertise in Japan have been showcased at Valencia’s Bartleby Bookstore in 2016, Cejas expanded the work into the graphic novel Hanami that was picked up by French writer La Boîte à Bulles in 2018, and printed in 2022 following a pandemic delay.
Hanami marks one other English-translation Humanoids addition of {the catalogue} of French writer La Boîte à Bulles. In November 2023, Humanoids shall be publishing Yann Damezin’s award-winning adaptation of classical Arabic tragedy Majnun and Layla which was printed by La Boîte à Bulles in 2022.
Below are extracts from the e-book:
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