PR: New UK manga publisher to debut next month

Manga publisher SelfMadeHero to launch in London

Independent UK publisher SelfMadeHero launches in early February 07. The focus of the launch is Manga Shakespeare, a book series providing a unique combination of manga and classic dramatic texts.
SelfMadeHero books reflect what’s going on in the best contemporary manga and graphic novels. SelfMadeHero Director Emma Hayley says: ‘With our fresh and innovative approach to the classics, we are creating exciting and unique books that will inspire today’s generation.’

SelfMadeHero is launching to an international audience. In the US, the Manga Shakespeare series has already been picked up by Amulet Books, an imprint of Harry N. Abrams, and will come out as a co-edition in April 07. In Japan, buyers at the huge retail chain Kinokuniya saw the books and immediately placed advance orders; a testament to the interest in the books and the quality of UK manga art. SelfMadeHero used award-winning UK-based manga artists Sonia Leong and Emma Vieceli to illustrate the first books – Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet which are published on March 1st 07.

Emma Hayley, director of SelfMadeHero, says:‘We are creating visually dynamic versions of the classics to make the books accessible, cool and understandable to new readers.’ Inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo and Juliet, in the Manga Shakespeare series she decided to retain the original language and use the visual impact of manga to help re-tell the stories in an abridged version.

In the Manga Shakespeare series, future titles include The Tempest and Richard III (Autumn 2007), with plans to publish Othello, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Manga Shakespeare series is edited by Richard Appignanesi, Textual Consultant is Nick de Somogyi.

Alongside Manga Shakespeare, SelfMadeHero will launch its Classical Eye series later this year, which will feature other classics in graphic novel form. The first titles include The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, adapted by Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal, and Kafka’s The Trial, adapted by David Zane Mairowitz and Chantal Montellier. Other titles planned include Edgar Allan Poe’s Nevermore, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.