Bobby Sands

Gerry Hunt worked for twenty-five years as an architect, eighteen of them with the IDA. In 1986 he left architecture and began drawing political cartoons. From this, he moved on to drawing entire comics ... his first, self-produced, comic was a rhyming, Spanish-language work that he gave away to friends. His book The Streets of Dublin was included in an exhibition entitled ‘Artist’s Books’ in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. He published ground-breaking historical graphic novels for The O'Brien Press, about the 1913 Lockout, Easter Rising (1916), War of Independence (1919) and Bobby Sands. Gerry died in June 2018.Matthew Griffin was born in Dublin and now lives in Ennis. He has garnered a reputation as one of the most eclectic graphic artists in contemporary illustration, collecting awards and accolades for his work in publishing, advertising and, in particular, the field of poster art. His passion for visual design was always married to one for writing. His first children’s novel, A Cage of Roots, was published in 2015. Storm Weaver followed the same characters further into a fantasy odyssey (2016), and The Spiral Path brings the enemy through a time portal to modern-day Ireland.

a thoroughly engrossing read … I’ve said it before when it comes to their line of Irish historical graphic novels but The O’Brien Press play an important part in keeping our history alive in the minds of people who are even more having their attention being called on by ever more shallow forms of so called entertainment. That is why I welcome this book and hopefully more like it as the quality and subject matter of the line of books is of such high quality, they are deserving of our time, attention and money. The book also boasts an afterword by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams who comments on the legacy of Bobby Sands and the sacrifice for the greater good of Sands and his fellow hunger strikers. This powerful account of a very recent chapter in Irish history is a page turner