Brighton graduate named new UK Comics Laureate

Hannah Berry, who graduated from her Illustration degree at the university in 2004, will become the third graphic novelist to hold the title. She will take over from current laureate Charlie Adlard in 2019.

Introduced in 2014 by the Comics Literary Awareness organisation, the laureate job is described as an “ambassadorial and educational role” for the genre.

Hannah is best known for her works Adamtine (2012), a dark thriller, and Livestock (2017), a satire that explores themes of celebrity and politics.

We caught up with Hannah after she received the honour to find out why she loves the graphic novel form and how her time at the University of Brighton influenced her.

What was your reaction to the announcement that you are the new Comics Laureate?

Honestly, I thought it was a wind-up. When I got the email inviting me to take up the position back in February it was the same week I got a letter telling me I'd been selected to be a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Both were such outrageous privileges that I assumed the moment I acknowledged either one Noel Edmonds (or some other irritant) would jump out with hidden cameras and laugh in my face.

I wasn't even sure I should say yes initially. I was having a baby in May and that was already a big enough leap into the unknown – but that night I lay awake thinking of all the good things I could do with the post and realised I could never turn it down.

Hannah Berry

Hannah Berry self-portrait

You’ve said you want to remove the “stigma” that surrounds comics and graphic novels. Would you say this has been one of the main aims of your writing life so far?

Maybe not a main aim, but it has been in the back of my mind for a long time. It would be lovely for my work and the work of my peers to be taken more seriously. For years, someone could write, say, an incredibly poignant graphic novel about their struggle with cancer, and it would get reviewed under the headline "KAPOW! Comic Punches Cancer In The Face!!!" That's if it gets a review at all, which is rare. There's nothing wrong with superhero comics, but the perception that they represent the whole medium is a massive disservice. It's like thinking the only books that exist are the ones you can pick up at Tesco, or the only films are the ones on at the Odeon. 

What were the factors that led to you embarking on a career in graphic novels?

In school I was a quiet geek who wrote and drew furiously in my spare time, and so I guess it was inevitable that the two would mesh together eventually. It was a hobby for a long time and I was as surprised as anyone when it actually became a career. 

How do you feel the graphic novel form facilitates the themes and ideas you want to convey more than the traditional novel form?

I've always felt that words were noisy things. Don't get me wrong, prose can offer the subtlest and most beautiful turns of phrase, but the visual language is innate and can describe to the reader the most complex concepts or the simplest ideas with ease. I know I sound like a pretentious git but honestly some of the theory behind how comics work is just magical.

How do you reflect on your time at the University of Brighton, and how did your Illustration degree help you get to where you are now?

I think one of the most fundamental lessons stuck with me because it's so relevant to comics: every element has to contribute towards the final message of the piece. Space is such a luxury in comics that you need to ensure every bit of the artwork is doing what it has to do to convey the right meaning, even if that meaning is deliberately obtuse. I also learned to blag artistic justifications for anything and everything – a key part of art school, I think you'll agree.

Livestock by Hannah Berry