News

An illustrious talent

Published 18 November 2011

A University of Brighton Illustration graduate has won the Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize 2011.

Isabel Greenberg's work was chosen from more than 200 entries. She said: "I'd entered twice before and once been a runner-up. To win is so nice. I’m so happy about it."

"Isabel said: My three years at the University of Brighton were absolutely amazing. It is a great city to study in and I met people I will stay in touch with, professionally and personally. The Illustration course was fantastic, and the work I did at Brighton has been very important to me. I would recommend the course to anyone."

Isabel Greenberg in her studio.

Isabel graduated with an Illustration BA(Hons) in 2009 and now works as a freelance illustrator and is finishing her first graphic novel. Her winning entry, Love in a Very Cold Climate, tells the story of a marriage between a South Pole dweller and a North Pole dweller who will never be able to touch one another, surrounded as they are by a magnetic force field. The judges said they admired the way Isabel handled time, "somehow capturing a shared lifetime in just four pages."

Isabel said: "I've got a bit of a thing for the North Pole, for nature programmes, and living in yurts with open fires. I live in London, so it's probably rather a romantic perspective. And then I started thinking about how magnetic poles repel, but opposite kinds of human being attract."

One judge said: "Spread out on the boardroom table, our final shortlist of eight, selected from 200 entries, looked quite dazzling. Nevertheless, Love in a Very Cold Climate was our unanimous choice. We loved its poetry, we loved the way it was touching without ever, quite, veering into sentimentality, and most of all we loved Greenberg's wonderfully evocative drawings, all ice and light."

Isabel is now seeking a publisher for her graphic novel, she said. "The best thing about winning is to know that I'm right: that my work is coming on, and that people have noticed it."