Cicada Books expands graphic novels publishing into YA with Sarah Lippett and Ziggy Hanaor

London-based indie publisher Cicada Books is expanding its publishing of graphic novels with a new YA book from Sarah Lippett and Ziggy Hanaor. Cicada will publish Everything Amplified this September, followed by their first adult graphic novel in 2026 from Alte Zachen illustrator Benjamin Phillips. All rights deals were done directly between the publisher and the creators.

Everything Amplified is a YA graphic novel about the "complexities of teenage life, the tangles of twinship and the power of music to somehow make sense of it all". The book came about through discussions between author/publisher Hanaor and author/illustrator Lippett, whose first book, Stan and Nan (Jonathan Cape, 2016) won both the Quentin Blake award for illustration and was a Guardian Book of the Year, with Hanaor describing the writing process as "very collaborative".

Everything Amplified will expand the graphic novel programme of Cicada into the YA market. Cicada began publishing graphic novels in 2022 with the Carnegie-shortlisted Alte Zachen/Old Thing, and followed that success with The Egg Incident in 2023. Hanaor is also working with Phillips on Shushu, an adult graphic novel to be published in 2026.

Hanaor said: "‘I was a long-time admirer of Sarah’s work – Stan and Nan is one of my favourite graphic novels of all time. Sarah has a warmth and spontaneity to her line-work and her writing style has a wisdom and optimism that feels very necessary right now. Although we never set out to write a YA book, our shared experience of music as a refuge in times of trouble led us naturally to that arena. Whilst music can often evoke a sense of nostalgia, it was important to us that the book be set in a contemporary context, reflecting the complicated realities of growing up in a digital age."

Lippett said: "I loved collaborating with Ziggy. I’ve been involved in various music communities since I was young, writing songs and playing bass in a post-punk band. It was both daunting and a delight to translate the energy and emotion of making music into a visual language.

"I really enjoyed building the characters and the world of Waterford. My aim was to look at the confines of a small town through the eyes of Nel – a smart, ambitious outsider – and then contrast that with the perspective of her easygoing, popular twin brother, Ludo. Female role models give Nel a sense of possibility and a glimpse into the wider world that awaits."

Cicada are planning a major PR and marketing campaign to launch the title, which includes press, advertising, events and festival appearances.