[Header image by E.H. Shepard]
Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly have announced the first graphic novel based directly on A.A. Milne’s original Winnie-the-Pooh book, which will be written and illustrated by award-winning cartoonist Travis Dandro. Adapting Milne’s 1926 collection of children’s stories (originally illustrated by E.H. Shepard), the book will presumably retell the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, and his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, and more in the Hundred Acre Wood. (Tigger, who was introduced in 1928’s The House at Pooh Corner, does not feature in the first book.)
Dandro, 48, is best known for his autobiographical graphic novels “King of King Court,” and “Hummingbird Heart,” both of which were also published by Drawn & Quarterly. The former, released in 2019, won Dandro the 2020 Lynd Ward Prize for best graphic novel of the year. D&Q’s executive editor, Tom Devlin, said, “It’s amazing to see Travis make a turn from his hilarious and heart-rending autobiographical series of graphic novels to one of the most sublime children’s classics. Seeing a cartoonist of this kind of skill reinterpreting great literature is rare and thrilling.”
The announcement comes shortly after Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain in the United States earlier this year, as a result of it having been 95 years since the book was first published. In the United Kingdom, copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author, which means it will remain copyrighted there until the 70th anniversary of Milne’s death in 2027: what this means for the graphic novel’s publication in Britain is currently unknown.
Travis Dandro’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” will be released sometime in Fall 2023.
