Daniel talks about how comics helped him learn a new language when he was young and how wide a variety of styles there are to suit every taste.

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Show Notes

Part One: I chat with Dr Daniel Boswell about comics research, the way comics can help learn new languages, how they are therapeutic, and how different styles mean that pretty much everyone is covered if they would like a comfort comic book!

Mentioned in this episode are:
Tintin
Asterix and Obelix
2000AD
Superman
X-Men
Alan Moore
Garth Ennis
Patrick Zircher
Inkblot
Jimmy Palmiotti
Archie

Part Two: I conclude my chat with Daniel about comics and we chat and laugh about tie-ins, keeping fans on side, character design, the brilliant rise of creator owned IP, and the expressive art found in comics. This episode has plenty of laughs, me chatting horses in comics, and Daniel struggling to pick his favourite IP.

Things mentioned in the episode:
Deadpool
Black Widow
Rob Liefeld
Louise Simonson
Paper Girls
Miss Marvel
Marvel Assembly – Preeti Chibber
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
The Inhumans
Marvel Knights
BlackSad
Blade Runner
Snowpiercer
Thor
The Avengers
The Walking Dead
The Flash
Flashpoint
Wolverine
Dr Strange
Savage Avengers
Batman
The Joker
The Riddler
Catwoman
Jim Lee
Frank Miller
Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing
Dune
Shirow Masamune
Ghost in the Shell
Kieran Gillan’s The Wicked and the Divine

Bonnie talks about her love of books and illustration, how she sees pictures as she reads, and how reading brings her joy.

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Show Notes

This week I chat with illustrator and artist Bonnie Hawkins. We discuss how reading has saved her life, how illustrations appear in her head as she reads, her love of illustrated books, and whether drawing is therapeutic.

An absolutely delightful episode with so much joy and beautiful books!
Do go check out:
Bonnie’s website
Bonnie’s Twitter
The 52 Crows Project

This week’s episode artwork is the drawing that started Bonnie’s illustration career.

Works and people mentioned in the episode
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
Fairies by Brian Froud and Alan Lee
Masquerade by Kit Williams
Grimm’s Fairytales Illustrated by Arthur Rackham
The Liveship Traders Trilogy by Robin Hobb
The Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb
PJ Lynch
East o’ the Sun West o’ the Moon
Alan Lee

I chat with Caroline all about the move to digital for the Hay Festival and how much reading means to her and all those visiting the Hay festivals around the world

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Show Notes

I have a wonderful chat with Chair of the Hay Literary Festival Caroline Michel all about the festival in all its forms across the globe. We discuss the move to digital online festivals, the succes of the festival in multiple countries, the difficulty in discoverability of events in an online setting, and how wonderful authors and speakers are.
We also chat about the therapeutic effects of reading and books, and how wide ranging the Hay Festival talks and authors are across multiple languages.

Hay Literary Festival

Works and authors mentioned in the podcast:
Agenda magazine
The Rattle Bag edited by Seamus Heany and Ted Hughes
Donal Óg poem
Ted Hughes
Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats
T.S. Eliot
John Keats
Robert Frost
Sylvia Plath
Toni Morrison
Tom Wolfe
Rough Magic by Lra Prior-Palmer
Lemn Sissay
Mario Vargas Llosa
Laura Bates
Stephen Fry
Simon Schama
Elif Shafak

I chat with the father of UK fantasy Ian Livingstone all about his co-creation of a new genre of books with the Fighting Fantasy series, the importance this had on getting children to read, and why videogames are so brilliant at getting gamers to use creative and critical thinking.

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Show Notes

I chat with the delightful Ian Livingstone, games legend. Co-founder of Games Workshop, co-creater of the Fighting Fantasy genre of books, videogames star who brought us the brilliant Lara Croft. We chat all about the therapeutic effects of reading, how he and Steve Jackson created an entirely new genre of books that encouraged children to read and increased literacy rates. He shares some amusing stories about the launch of the first book and how they are still in print today. We also discuss co-writing, how important games are for critical thinking, and why having a sense of agency is so important when engaging in media.

Ian’s Twitter
Ian and Steve’s new book from Unbound

Things mentioned in this episode:
On the Road by Jack Kerouac 

Fighting Fantasy books mentioned
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Citadel of Chaos
Forest of Doom
City of Thieves
Deathtrap Dungeon
Assassins of Alansia

Games Mentioned
Skyrim
Dark Souls
Minecraft
Rollercoaster Tycoon