FIRST TIME GRAPHIC NOVELS RECOGNISED IN NEW CATEGORY
“OUR BOOK IS A LOVE LETTER TO THE NORTH OF ENGLAND”
THE JOY OF “THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE DETAIL AND THE DESIGN OF THEIR BOOKS”
SelfMadeHero, one of the UK’s leading independent graphic novel publishers, is delighted that Sophie and Scarlett Rickard’s This Slavery has been shortlisted for Book of the Year: Graphic Novel in the British Book Awards 2026, sponsored by The Bookseller. The inaugural graphic novel category salutes the unique combination of narrative complexity and artistry that graphic storytelling brings to the literary landscape. The 2026 shortlist recognises the breadth of talent working across the field of comics and graphic novels, with titles crossing age ranges and genres, from the biggest-selling children’s authors to sweeping memoirs.
“Sophie and Scarlett Rickard are extremely talented creators,” says Emma Hayley, Founder and MD of SelfMadeHero. “I am very proud to have had the opportunity to publish three of their graphic novels – all of which received rave reviews. It is their commitment to the detail and the design of their books, as well as their unwavering passion to communicate the importance of the social themes that underpin all of their books, that makes working with them an absolute joy. The latest shortlisting of This Slavery as part of the British Book Awards is a huge honour.”
“It’s so exciting to see This Slavery feature on this list of brilliant stories,” say the Rickard sisters. “The new category reflects readers’ enthusiasm for graphic novels of every kind. Our book is a love letter to the north of England where we grew up, as well as a hard-hitting story about love and work by a radical northern woman. Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, who wrote This Slavery over a hundred years ago, would be delighted to see her story getting fresh attention today.”
This Slavery is adapted from a novel by the radical author Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, by Sophie Rickard (text adaptation) and Scarlett Rickard (illustrations). It shows the starkly observed realities of what it was like to be female in pre-war industrial Britain. Thrown out of work when the cotton mill burns down, sisters Rachel and Hester Martin are forced to find new ways to survive. One agitates for reform, striving to free her community from the enslavement of the factory system; the other submits to the slavery of a patriarchal marriage.
A hundred years after the first publication of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s lost classic, this sumptuous adaptation by sisters Scarlett and Sophie Rickard weaves her tale of romance and hope through the cobbled streets of industrial Lancashire.
The British Book Awards are announced at a special ceremony on 11th May at Grosvenor House.
The full British Book Awards shortlist can be found here:
https://www.thebookseller.com/british-book-awards-content/book-of-the-year
@thebritishbookawards #Nibbies #BritishBookAwards
For more info about: SelfMadeHero – www.selfmadehero.com @selfmadehero @therickardsisters
This Slavery media kit available here: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/QwaHkj06wu
This Slavery: Paperback 368pp/ colour ISBN: 978-1-914224-35-5 UK £18.99 / US $23.99 / CAN $29.99
About Author
