Myfanwy Tristram’s latest graphic novel, Noisy Valley, has found a home with publishers SelfMadeHero and will be released in May 2026 – but Waterstones has a special discount offer, ending today.
Long time followers of Myfanwy’s work will know that this is the culmination of a very long project. It was made possible thanks to the support of the Workers Studio, Gallery & Workshop who so generously welcomed the creator to the Rhondda.
“It’s a love letter to that community – and also a clarion call around the importance of the act of protest in the current age,” says Myfanwy, who draws comics around a full time job at a digital democracy NGO; each side of the artist’s life inspiring and informing the other.
“I know authors always say this, but that’s because it’s true: please do pre-order if you would like to help this graphic novel succeed,” says Myfanwy. “Pre-orders are what inform a bookshop that it’s worth getting in stocks of a book!”
“It’s about what ordinary people do, because what we do… is quite extraordinary.”
Protest matters, and never more so than today – and yet our rights around dissent have been eroded in law. Noisy Valley is a beautifully illustrated work of graphic non-fiction exploring the importance of protest, and what it can achieve, through the voices of one vibrant community.
In every neighbourhood there are the activists, the ones who raise their voices. Myfanwy Tristram visited the Rhondda Valley in South Wales, inviting local people to recount their memories of the times they’d refused to take things lying down. Noisy Valley is the result: a graphic retelling of protests both past and present.
The area is best known for the miners’ strikes of the 1980s (and their support from the LGBT movement as documented in the film Pride), but its spirit of righteous dissent continues to rise against injustice. These stories tell how communities and individuals pushed back on a landfill site that poisoned local streams, a waste processing plant that destroyed an area of natural beauty, sexism in the workplace, and the closure of the local hospital. We dip into the historic Aldermaston marches and the Greenham women’s peace camp too.
Noisy Valley is a testament to protestors who – whatever the political climate – have believed in their power to get things changed.
Myfanwy Tristram is a graphic novelist based in Brighton, UK, whose work focuses on activism and social history. Her comics have been shortlisted for several awards. In 2017, Myf co-ordinated and published Draw the Line, depicting more than 100 simple actions to help change the world. Noisy Valley was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious First Graphic Novel Award.
• Noisy Valley by Myfanwy Tristram will be published on 14th May 2026 by SelfMadeHero | ISBN: 9781914224430 | Preorder it from Waterstones at 25% discount on cover until Friday 17th October 2025 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link | ukBookshop.org Affiliate Link | SelfMadeHero Title Details
• Myfanwy Tristram is online at myfanwytristram.com | BlueSky | Instagram
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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