The Islands Where We Left our Ancestors is the beautifully drawn true story of Australia-based artist Joshua Santospirito’s visit to the Aeolian Islands of Italy with his parents, to seek out past connections and family roots.
Released earlier this year, receiving praise from reviewers, it’s widely available in Australia and New Zealand, direct from Joshua’s web shop, or as an eBook.
In the book, Joshua and his father hope to locate the burial place of Joshua’s great-great-grandfather on the island of Salina. But it’s not always so easy to find the past you’re looking for, nor to travel with your parents.
As Joshua learns more about the sun-drenched volcanic archipelago, its people, and their history, he also explores the mysteries of family – and the magic of creating your own place in the world.
This is a tale of migration and return, of the rise to stardom of actress Ingrid Bergman, of the cheeky wind god Aeolus, of ancestry, place, and belonging, and of so much more. Told from Joshua’s unique and charming perspective, there is something here for everyone.
“Meaningful, poignant, and at times hilarious, this sumptuous book brings personal experience into close contact with a multilayered past, encompassing language, family history, mythology, and cultural memory,” commented Safdar Ahmed, Author of the New South Wales Premier’s Book of the Year, Still Alive.
“Santospirito’s art is always playful and fluid … Perhaps the most striking thing about the book is its quietly elegant structure,” suggests Jack Rowland in his review of the graphic novel for Australia’s Books and Publishing, “which weaves together Santospirito’s episodic and digressive journeys to each of the seven islands into a moving, impactful whole.
Last year, Joshua revealed the road to getting The Islands Where We Left our Ancestors was not an easy one, pitched to various publishers before Scribe Publications took up the option.
“I was super pleased with this,” he outlined on his blog, “they’re a book publisher bringing graphic novels into their list, having published Sam Wallman, Tommi Parrish, as well as graphic novel by Luke & Kelly Jackson with Mara White.
“Some of you know about my ongoing rants about how comics are excluded from literary spaces, so you can imagine how stoked I am to have a publisher who’s addressing this issue.”
Joshua Santospirito (he/him) is a multimedia artist, musician and graphic novelist living in nipaluna on palawa land, lutruwita (Tasmania). He is one half of the beloved experimental classical band Bing/Santospirito, and is known for creating cross-media performances for art festivals.
His expansive art practice, which includes painting, performance, music, sound, comics and writing, often focuses on identity, place and modern Australia. His writing, editing, comics and illustrations have appeared in the Monthly, Island Magazine, Meanjin and The Suburban Review. Audiovisual performances created by Josh have been featured at festivals such as Mona Foma, Dark Mofo, Something Somewhere Film Festival and the Jogja Biennale. He has collaborated as with visuals and live performance on projects by many other artists as well.
Joshua is the author of graphic novels Swallows Part One (2015) and cult favourite The Long Weekend in Alice Springs (2013) which won the Chief Minister’s non-fiction book award in the Northern Territory. The Islands Where We Left our Ancestors is his third graphic novel, published through Scribe Publications.
Joshua is also the long-term convenor of the The Small Press Zine Fair in Hobart, and worked with Island magazine as their guest curator for their graphic narratives program, The Nanna Project. In the past, Joshua was co-director of the Comic Art Workshop, (2019-2023) was also the Director of Her Majesty’s Favourite Really Great Graphical Festival (2014-16).
Having performed his unusual brand of music live since 2004 with many albums under his belt, Joshua’s performances have captured audiences across Australia and Europe. Since 2019 Joshua has worked alongside violinist Natalya Bing in their collaboration Bing/Santospirito to create LP’s, theatre compositions and create audiovisual concerts for major festivals with their trademark immersive improvisations.
• The Islands Where We Left Our Ancestors is available direct from Joshua here
• An eBook edition is also available here through AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Joshua is online at joshuasantospiritoart.com |
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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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