Storysmith are delighted to mark the long-awaited return of graphic novelist Joff Winterhart with a special event to celebrate his new opus, Dear Historian! Joff will be in conversation with author Polly Ho-Yen. 
Anyone who has enjoyed even the merest acquaintance with Joff’s work will know how distinct and special it is – we know fans of his previous graphic novels Driving Short Distances and Days Of The Bagnold Summer (and its subsequent Belle & Sebastian-soundtracked movie adaptation) will not want to miss this very special night.

Pre-order your copy of Dear Historian (rrp £20) for a special discounted price with your ticket, then collect on the night!

ABOUT JOFF WINTERHART
Joff Winterhart is an artist, writer, occasional film-maker, ‘drummer’, and dog fan. His graphic novel Days of the Bagnold Summer was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award in 2012 and adapted into a film. His second graphic novel Driving Short Distances came out in 2017. He also made the animated films Two Guys I know and Violet and Turquoise, which won the Cymru BAFTA for best animation in 2003. He lives in Bristol, where he plays drums and writes songs in the long-running band Bucky, and thinks about getting a new dog.

ABOUT DEAR HISTORIAN
Margaret and Lucy are improbable friends who navigate their age gap, the cult of personality, graveyards in the rain and bad knees, from cult graphic novelist Joff Winterhart.

At this point in her life, septuagenarian Margaret is particular about the things she likes. These include looking out of train windows, graveyards in the rain, an afternoon sherry. But most of all, it is her lifelong subject, the obscure 17th century polymath J.W Preece, who she has devoted her life to studying.

Margaret doesn’t like: drawing attention to herself, extravagant behaviour and television. When she meets a young history TV producer, Lucy, they form a tentative bond, despite Margaret’s reluctance to be drawn into the media world. Several decades Margaret’s junior, heartbroken and unsure of herself, Lucy finds curious new inspiration as she falls under the spell of Margaret’s passions.

‘One of the most talented graphic novelists in the UK’ ZADIE SMITH

‘Just when I thought I couldn’t love Joff Winterhart more, along came Dear Historian. It has all the wry humanity and keen eye for detail that won Driving Short Distances and Days of the Bagnold Summer such passionate fans’ PATRICK GALE

‘Even in the prose aisles, you’d be hard-pressed to find a piece of literary fiction as nuanced and beautiful as this.’ VULTURE, on Other People

ABOUT POLLY HO-YEN
Polly Ho-Yen was born in Northampton and brought up in Buckinghamshire. She studied English at Birmingham University before working in publishing for several years. Her first novel, Boy in the Tower, published in July 2014 by Random House Children’s Publishers, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Her second novel, Where Monsters Lie, was published in 2016 and her third novel, Fly Me Home, was published in 2017. Both of these novels were also nominated for the Carnegie Medal. She has since had three more titles published: How I Saved The World In A Week and The Day No One Woke Up by Simon & Schuster, and The Boy Who Grew A Tree by Knights Of.
She now writes full-time and lives in Bristol with her husband and daughter. Polly’s first adult novel, Dark Lullaby, was published by Titan Books in the UK.