We were delighted to be on the BBC Radio Scotland’s The Janice Forsyth Show yesterday talking about our new graphic novel The Little Mermaid. You can listen again here – our segment is at 1h40min: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08jf6ll
We’ve written a feature for The National newspaper about the graphic memoir Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart. It’s an incredibly powerful book about the loss of a child: Rosalie Lightning died just before turning two from unexplained causes. Rosalie loved one of our own books, Louis – Night Salad, and Tom integrates this and her other loves, including My Neighbor Totoro, into his graphic novel. We felt very moved, and wanted to respond in some way. Our best wishes to Tom Hart and Leela Corman, who now have a daughter, Molly Rose.
Here’s a link to the online version of the article: http://www.thenational.scot/culture/drawing-on-grief-how-comic-creator-tom-hart-paid-powerful-tribute-to-his-late-daughter-rosalie-lightning.18143
Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews have both written great reviews of The Red Shoes and Other Tales, to be published on October 13th 2015 by Papercutz.
Publishers Weekly says: “Hope, joy, and pain intermingle in these dark, alluring stories, which may leave readers thinking of Andersen as a precursor to modern horror.”
Full review here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62991-283-7
Kirkus Reviews calls it: “A darkly pensive read, perfect for chilly fall evenings.”
Full review here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/metaphrog/the-red-shoes-and-other-tales
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| Evening Express article 28/11/2013 |
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| Scottish Parliament mention of our partnership with Northfield Academy as Patrons of Reading |
Neil Hendry, head teacher of Northfield Academy said: “We are delighted that the talented duo from Metaphrog has agreed to work with the school in this special reading initiative. By working in partnership with Metaphrog over the next three years we hope pupils will be inspired and encouraged to read and be creative through the style and illustrations of graphic novels.”
In other news, we have just returned from a two week event tour. Firstly, we were in the Netherlands, at the Eindhoven International School, where we delivered a series of workshops and also an in-depth lecture on Persepolis. The school has one of the best libraries we have ever seen – including a fabulous graphic novel section – and International Human Rights Declaration #19 imprinted on its wall.
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| The library at the Eindhoven International School |
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| Metaphrog workshop session in Aberdeenshire |
We always love travelling and had a fantastic time – and returned inspired and ready to write and draw new stories!
Our comic adaptation of Edwin Morgan’s First Men on Mercury poem was featured in The Scotsman on Friday, as part of an interesting article on science fiction and Scotland, by Pat Kane.
Read the online version of the article here: http://www.scotsman.com/news/pat-kane-beam-us-scotties-up-alex-1-2353626
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| The Scotman – Friday 15 June 2012 |
Skint!, the graphic novel/play we worked on for the Scottish Book Trust, along with the playwright Gowan Calder, was featured on BBC Radio Scotland.
We’re really happy to have been part of this fantastic project! The “Sunday Morning with…” program features interviews with young people and tutors.
The show is available to listen to online for a short time here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f50bc
The book also was featured in The Herald in November 2011.
Paul Gravett’s excellent new book is out now. We are pleased to say that 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die features Louis!
Word Up, Edinburgh City Libraries’ online newsletter, kindly asked to write an article on books that have inspired us to become graphic novelists:
Gavin Lees has written a fantastic review of Louis – Night Salad in The Comics Journal. Here’s a short extract, from the beginning and from the end of the review:
In the hands of Franco-Scottish duo Metaphrog (aka John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs — reductively, he writes and she draws, but the collaboration is much tighter than that), the children’s adventure-strip becomes an altogether more adult experience. They sublimate Pynchonesque paranoia and hallucinatory symbolism into the bright, primary-colored world of Louis: a cute, blank-featured everyman…
That Louis’s concerns are universal and his adventures a reflection of modern world make his tales like contemporary fables. Metaphrog manage to bridge the gap between innocence and experience with real insight, making Night Salad something that can stand alongside Kafka’s short stories — deceptively simple tales that manage to pierce directly to the heart of the human condition.
You can read the full review here.
Louis – Night Salad is featured in The Skinny this month (December 2010 – Issue 63), with a review and mini-interview. Online version here.
