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Carol Swain

Goodreads Author

Born

London, The United Kingdom

Website

https://www.carolswaincomics.com/

Member Since

August 2016

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I can now be reached via my new website:
carolswaincomics.com
where fans can now purchase my original comic art, or just say Hello. Below is my bio, from the site:
Born in London and raised in Wales, Carol Swain is one of the UK's foremost comics creators, whose comic stories and graphic novels have been translated into 15 languages. Dubbed "The Raymond Carver of comics" by Time Out magazine, Carol's many admirers include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Art Spiegelman, underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, UK Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph, and Watchmen and V for Vendetta creator Alan Moore, who wrote the foreword to Carol's acclaimed graphic novel Foodboy.
Carol's father was an architect, her mother an antiques dealer who once took her to the fa I can now be reached via my new website:
carolswaincomics.com
where fans can now purchase my original comic art, or just say Hello. Below is my bio, from the site:
Born in London and raised in Wales, Carol Swain is one of the UK's foremost comics creators, whose comic stories and graphic novels have been translated into 15 languages. Dubbed "The Raymond Carver of comics" by Time Out magazine, Carol's many admirers include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Art Spiegelman, underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, UK Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph, and Watchmen and V for Vendetta creator Alan Moore, who wrote the foreword to Carol's acclaimed graphic novel Foodboy.
Carol's father was an architect, her mother an antiques dealer who once took her to the famous Greenham Common protests. After a spell at art school in Stoke-on-Trent, Carol moved back to London. Inspired by the punk ethos of DIY, she began self-publishing her comic Way Out Strips, while contributing stories to various comics journals worldwide, and serving as colourist on the controversial graphic novel Skin. Way Out Strips was eventually picked up by America’s Fantagraphics Books, who would go on to publish Carol's subsequent graphic novels Invasion of the Mind Sappers, Foodboy, Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock’n’roll Life (a collaboration with her partner Bruce Paley), and Gast. Considered by many to be her finest work to date, Gast is a coming-of-age story in which a young English girl investigates the suicide of a reclusive, cross-dressing Welsh farmer by seeking out those who knew him best, though it's his dogs and sheep who have the most to say. Gast has since been optioned for a short film by the French director Frédéric Bayer Azem, and was the subject of a doctoral thesis by Alice Vernon of Aberystwyth University entitled "Exploring Identity, Landscape and Language in Carol Swain’s Gast."
In 2007, pages from Carol’s comics were included in an exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery entitled Cult Fiction, alongside works by the likes of Robert Crumb, Joe Sacco, Dan Clowes, and Raymond Pettibon. Her work has also been exhibited at San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum.
In 2009, Dark Horse published a career-spanning anthology of Carol's work entitled Crossing the Empty Quarter.
In 2013, Carol was a panellist at the Cork International Short Story Festival, along with Etgar Keret, participating in a discussion of the graphic novel as an art form and its relation to mainstream fiction.
Carol lives in Pembrokeshire with her partner and dog, who seems to have a lot to say. She is currently working on a new graphic novel tentatively entitled Mwnci Swit (Welsh for Monkey Suit), which is set in Llanparc, the fictional Welsh town in which several of her stories are based.
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Carol Swain’s books

Average rating: 3.64 · 1,318 ratings · 179 reviews · 24 distinct works • Similar authors

	Gast 3.69 avg rating — 568 ratings — published 2014 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Countercultural Living: What Jesus Has to Say About Life, Marriage, Race, Gender, and Materialism 4.37 avg rating — 38 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Foodboy 2.90 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 2004 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crossing the Empty Quarter and Other Stories 3.29 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Invasion of the Mind Sappers 3.36 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 1996 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Gay Affair: Harvard, Plagiarism, and the Death of Academic Integrity really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Diversity Without Discrimination: How to Promote a Culture of Unity in a Post-DEI/Affirmative Action World by Carol Swain (Goodreads Author), Mike Towle, Alan Dershowitz it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Way Out Strips Vol 3, No.3 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Way Out Strips (Fantagraphics) #2 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Way Out Strips 1 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Nutshell

by Ian McEwan (Goodreads Author)

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Jun 07, 2018 03:06AM

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Carol Swain made a comment in the group Graphic Novel Reading Group — What graphic novel/comic book would you recommend? topic " Written and drawn by veteran UK comics creator Carol Swain, Gast concerns a young, nature-loving English girl recently moved to rural Wales, who hears ...more "
Mar 13, 2026 08:56AM
Carol Swain joined the group Graphic Novel Reading Group
Mar 13, 2026 08:54AM · like
Carol Swain rated a book liked it Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Flawed and overhyped. Two things in particular bothered me, and a lot of other readers too, from what I've seen. 1) Shakespeare is never named, rather he's referred to as the husband, or her father, or whatever. This is a pointless gimmick, as we kno ...more
Jan 03, 2026 07:27AM · like · see review
Carol Swain and 2787 other people liked Nataliya's review of Hamnet: "So apparently being critically acclaimed and award winning still doesn’t make a good book, even when it tries this hard. “Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns.” Since this " Read more of this review »
Jan 03, 2026 07:25AM · see review

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