Tobias Taitt and Anthony Smith have signed to have their graphic novel, Black Bastard published by Soaring Penguin Press. Taitt originally wrote his autobiography as a novel, before adapting it into comics with artist Anthony Smith.

Told simply and adroitly, Black Bastard recounts how Taitt struggled to grow up in the UK after being abandoned by his Barbadian mother, who had hoped to find a better life there—but failed to find it. Falling into a life of (occasionally violent) crime from the age of 15, Taitt was shunted from children’s homes to reform schools to prisons throughout the ’80s, until he was able to stay out of trouble long enough to start to put his life together.

Originally appearing in the webcomic Aces Weekly, the print edition will provide previously unpublished material.

Black Bastard by Tobias Taitt and Anthony Smith is scheduled for publication in the UK in September, 2021, to coincide with October’s Black History Month.