What a month!

May has been a really fun month for me overall, even if there’s been plenty of things I’ve got mad about. Tech losers keep trying to destroy our creative industries with AI, our politicians are hell-bent on eradicating trans people from public society and nobody seems to give a damn that the planet is cooking and our water is poisoned!

But I have also been given plenty of hope this month. I attended several events at schools and a kid’s book award show and I know it is cliche to say “kids are the future”, but I do think seeing a generation who are already rejecting AI and loving diverse storytelling has given me confidence we will win. Even if it takes some time.

Today’s headlines:

• Trans Rights in the UK

• Go-Man Wins Leeds Book Award!

• TCAF

• Emotional Labour

• Go-Man vs the Star Dragon Pre-orders

• Pokemon People

TRANS RIGHTS IN THE UK

If you live in the UK, I would greatly urge you contact your local MP and ask them to speak out against the Supreme Court’s new “guidance” regarding trans people’s right to exist in this country and in public spaces.

A full run down of what has been happening can be found here:

And here you can input your postcode and find your local MP and receive a template email to send to them:

Email your MP about the impact of the supreme court ruling - redirect for trans people

Please consider writing your own email though as the more evidence of how this is negatively impacting a wide rage of people, the better.

GO-MAN WINS LEEDS BOOK AWARD!

Go-Man: Champion of Earth won Best Middle Grade Graphics at the Leeds Book Awards.

The event was absolutely incredible and I was so happy that the book won an award voted for by kids. It really makes you feel like you know what you are doing and the kids were so smart and engaged - one of them even guess one of the big twists for Book 2! Have you got any theories what that might be?

You can find the full list of winners and nominees here plus watch a live stream of the whole event. I am awarded around the 25 minute mark.

Leeds Book Awards | Leeds for Learning

Hundred of children and young people gathered at Leeds City Museum on May 19th to see the announcement of the Leeds Book Award winners and meet them at a spectacular event. There were 12 shortlisted

I also covered the event in an instagram reel and tiktok:

TCAF

Just a reminder that I am going to be in Toronto next week for TCAF! Have you got your tickets? https://www.torontocomics.com/

I will have DeadEndia 1-3, Go-Man plus plenty of merchandise. I go over all of that in ANOTHER instagram reel (I am becoming a content man babbyyyy)

EMOTIONAL LABOUR

I was invited to be a guest on Emotional Labour, a 10-minute podcast by rapper htmljones and it was genuinely one of the funniest podcasts I’ve ever been on. The questions are deep and absurd in equal measure and the editing of the show is next level.

Check it out and also consider donating to Ishaani’s gender affirming surgery fund if you love the episode or are just a nice person: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-ishaani-get-surgery?attribution_id=sl:b92c0024-e626-4945-85ad-a80119a3d3c7&lang=en_GB&ts=1762525193&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

GO-MAN UPDATES AND PRE-ORDERS

Each month, I make sure to tell you to preorder my next book Go-Man vs. the Star Dragon! Preorders help authors SO MUCH as they inform the industry that a book has heart, leading to stores stocking more of them and my publisher having more faith in me for future books.

You can preorder the book from wherever is best (it all helps me) or via the links here:

USA: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hamish-steele/go-man-vs-the-star-dragon/9781454955092/

UK: https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/hamish-steele/go-man-vs-the-star-dragon/9781454955085/

POKEMON PEOPLE

After the popularity of my big Doctor Who print featuring every Doctor and companion, I decided to start working on something similar for Pokémon, featuring every notable trainer, gym leader, rival, evil team boss, elite four, champion, etc etc.

I have so far drawn Gen 1 and Gen 2 (Janine will feature on the main artwork of everyone) and have started Gen 3 on my patreon. If you want to see this artwork early and in higher res, consider becoming a patron. I’ve been posting about a few upcoming projects in their recently, some not announced or in the early stages!

Hamish Steele | creating comics and regrets. | Patreon

creating comics and regrets.

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Thank you for reading and see you next month for PRIDE! I have lots of videos planned for that so think about following me on Instagram, TikTok, Youtube or Bluesky!

-Hamish