Some welcome news over the weekend with the announcement that Anna Readman is the winner of the 2023 Observer/Faber Graphic Short Story Prize. We first put a spotlight on Anna’s work at Broken Frontier nearly five years ago when we included her as one of our annual ‘Six to Watch‘ line-up and, indeed, a couple of months later in 2019 I called her “the future of British comics”. It’s good to see the rest of the comics world catching up with us here at Broken Frontier. But then we’re always ahead of the curve when it comes to alerting you about the very best in emerging UK comics talent!
You can read Anna’s winning entry ‘Dancing Queen’ here and it’s powerful work indeed. Congratulations to Anna and also to runner-up Candy Gourlay whose comic ‘Safe Passage’ can be read here. The judging panel consisted of the Observer’s Rachel Cooke, Faber publishing director Angus Cargill, legendary comics commentator and champion Paul Gravett of Comica, Breakdown Press and Gosh! Comics’ Tom Oldham, renowned comics artist Lizzy Stewart (Walking Distance, Alison) and author Max Porter (Grief is the Thing with Feathers).
In celebration here’s some selected links to our coverage of the work of Anna Readman over the last five years…
2019 Review: Area 07 – The Future of British Comics Has Arrived and Her Name is Anna Readman
2019 Interview: “I Like the Control You Have, and the Lack of Exposition and Word Vomit Required to Tell a Story” – Emerging Talent Anna Readman Talks About the Unique Possibilities of Comics as a Form
2020 Review: 2000 AD Prog 2206 – Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ Artist Anna Readman Shines in Her 2000 AD Regened Debut
2022 Review: Handlebar Gumbo – Anna Readman’s Collected Diary Comics Are the Work of a Careful Student of the Language, Intricacies and Nuances of the Medium
2022 Review: Peach Fuzz #1 – Anna Readman Takes Us on an Enticing Journey Into Melancholia in this Absolutely Essential Thought Bubble 2022 Purchase
2023 Review: 2000 AD Prog 2346 – The ‘Regened’ Special Returns Including the Stunning Art of Anna Readman on ‘Renk’
2023 Review: The Lost Loiners – Anna Readman Lends an Unlikely Humanity to the Monstrous in Her Troll Illustration Zine
