This week sees the launch of a graphic adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Castle by the Czech artist Jaromír 99 and David Zane Mairowitz, who previously adapted The Trial for SelfMadeHero.

The launch party will take place in Bar Prague in Shoreditch, where a selection of Jaromír 99’s original artwork will be exhibited until Saturday 15th June. Jaromír 99 and David Zane Mairowitz will be in attendance, so come along to drink beer, admire the artwork and get your copy signed. RSVP to [email protected].

About the book and its creators:

When a land surveyor, known only as “K.”, is summoned to the Village, he is forced to negotiate an obscure hierarchy – among assistants and messengers, chambermaids and landladies, masters and … mistresses. But how is he to receive his instructions from the Castle when no one knows what his employer looks like, telephones ring unanswered, and there is anyway no land to survey? A piercing study in futility, Franz Kafka’s final masterpiece ends – much like life itself – in mid-sentence.

David Zane Mairowitz is an author, playwright, radio director and translator who has published numerous books, including Introducing Kafka (with Robert Crumb), Introducing Camus, and Wilhelm Reich for Beginners. His theatrical plays include a critically acclaimed version of Kafka’s The Trial. He previously adapted Dostoevesky’s Crime and Punishment and Kafka’s The Trial for SelfMadeHero.

Czech-born Jaromír 99 is a accomplished singer, songwriter, and artist who is best known for his work with Jaroslav Rudis on the comics trilogy Alois Nebel. Alois Nebel was turned into an animated feature of the same title that premiered to great acclaim at the Venice Film Festival, and was selected as the Czech entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011. Alois Nebel won Best Animated Feature at the 2012 European Film Awards.

This summer, the Edinburgh International Book Festival has promised to focus on comics like never before. The programme will be announced in three weeks’ time – in the meantime, we’re keeping shtum – but we can report another exciting development.

To coincide with the festival’s programme of graphic novel events, “Stripped”, Graphic Scotland has announced a brand new graphic novel prize. The inaugural 9th Art Award will be given to the best English language graphic novel published between May 2012 and July 2013, and will be presented at a ceremony held during the festival.

The prize will be judged by Paul Gravett, Hannah McGill, Adrian Searle, Mary Talbot and Chair of Graphic Scotland John McShane.

Keep up-to-date with what’s happening at the festival by following @StrippedFest and @edbookfest. Updates on the 9th Art Prize will be posted by @9thArtAward.

This Sunday, The Nao of Brown creator Glyn Dillon will be talking Brit comics with Stephen Collins (The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil) and Mary Talbot (Dotter of her Father’s Eyes) in a discussion chaired by graphic novel expert Paul Gravett. The event, which takes place in the South Bank Centre’s Purcell Room at 2pm, forms part of The London Literature Festival. The three creators will discuss the recent British graphic novel renaissance, and the past and future of the form.

For more details, and to purchase tickets for the event, visit the South Bank Centre’s website.

In SelfMadeHero’s most popular blog post ever, Rob Davis discussed how he approached the adaptation of Don Quixote into a graphic novel. When he told people he was going to adapt Cervantes’ 1,000-page classic into graphic form, most people questioned his sanity: ‘You must be mad,’ they said. His blog post revealed why he felt compelled to adapt it, and how he went about doing it.

On Sunday 2nd June, the world of adaption is the focus of a panel discussion at the Institut Français’ BD & Comics Passion event in London.  Creators Mark Stafford, I. N. J. Culbard and David Zane Mairowitz will discuss the process of turning a literary classic into a graphic novel. What are the difficulties involved in adaptations?  How can the graphic format enhance the original text? How does an artist or writer capture the spirit of the original? The three creators will reveal their approach to adapting a trio of very different stories.

Artist Mark Stafford has tackled Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs (with David Hine), a satirical tale of 18th century Britain that also inspired the creation of The Joker; I. N. J. Culbard has taken on the challenge of H.P Lovecraft’s weird fiction, including The Shadow Out of Time; and writer David Zane Mairowitz has explored the Kafkaesque with adaptations of The Trial and The Castle.

The discussion will be chaired by Resonance FM’s graphic novel expert, Alex Fitch.

‘From Classic to Graphic’ takes place on Sunday 2nd June at the Institut Français in London, 3.30-4.30pm.

Ahead of our trip to MoCCA Arts Festival in New York, Publishers Weekly talked of SelfMadeHero being at the vanguard of a ‘new British Invasion’. But as creators Glyn Dillon, Rob Davis, JAKe and Robert Sellers signed, sketched and talked their way through a weekend in New York, it became clear that this invasion, while very real, is being fought on a civilised, gentlemanly front. In fact, it wasn’t just the originality and brilliance of their work that caught the attention of critics, but the ‘niceness’ of their character. As Timothy Callahan of Comic Book Resources said,

After charming the locals at SelfMadeHero’s pre-MoCCA Spring Party at Bergen Street Comics, it was down to the business of signing and selling books. MoCCA had a great atmosphere this year, and it was really good to see such energy and enthusiasm among the punters, artists and professionals in attendance. It was great, too, to see such passion for the British graphic novel scene. On the Sunday, SelfMadeHero’s four creators took part in a panel event on the subject, which was hosted by The Comic News Insider’s Jimmy Aquino. (There’s a great report of what they had to say over at The Beat.)

But it’s not only the work of our British creators that’s gaining such popularity in North America; our fiction and non-fiction in translation, which also attracted a lot of attention at MoCCA, is also winning acclaim. The week after the festival, when Comic Con International announced the nominations for the Eisner Awards 2013, we were delighted to hear that A Chinese Life by Li Kunwu and P. Ôtié had received two nominations (in the ‘Best U.S. Edition of International Material – Asia’ and ‘Best Reality-Based Work’ categories) and Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal had received a nomination in the ‘Best Adaptation from Another Medium’ category for Chico & Rita. Many congratulations to them – and fingers crossed for the win!

You can listen to Jimmy Aquino’s MoCCA recap on The Comic News Insider here.